Vinobha KT/Newindpress

Mangalore, Feb 21: The office of the Regional Director of Environment (RDE) initiated a long drawn legal process by issuing a notice against the Minor Irrigation Department for reclaiming Gurupur river near Sulthanbatteri by violating CRZ guidelines.

It may be recalled here that this website’s newspaper first exposed the illegal reclamation of Gurupur river between Sulthanbatteri and Bokkapatna, which had gone unnoticed so far. Following the exposure by this website’s newspaper, RDE conducted a site inspection and discovered the river being reclaimed and a road being constructed under the pretext of building coastal erosion protection wall by the Minor Irrigation Department (MID).

RDE in a notice served to the executive engineer of MID directed that the reclamation work should be stopped immediately and the river should be restored to its original condition. The notice warned that the work undertaken by the MID was a clear violation of CRZ notification and a punishable offence under Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act 1986.

RDE sought clarification from MID which already had constructed around 250 metres of parallel road reclaiming Gurupur river. RDE in the notice ordered the contractor, who undertook the work, to decongest drainage leading to the river which had been blocked while constructing the 25 ft road.

Copies of the notice were also sent to the secretary to the State Environment department and DK Deputy Commissioner. Meanwhile, one of the drainages closed during the reclamation work was decongested by the contractor close on the heels of the story on CRZ violation in this newspaper.

Earlier, the same contractor had convinced the local residents that the road being constructed between Sulthanbatteri and Bokkapatna for the convenience of Mata Amritanandamayi’s devotees. But during the three-day Amritasangama, the road had never been used by the devotees.