Mangalore, April 11: The Department of Environment and Ecology has issued a notice to the Mangalore Special Economic Zone Limited (MSEZL) asking it to remove the mud it has dumped in the Phalguni River.
Over the last two months, the MSEZL had been dumping mud for a stretch of around 1 km along the Phalguni river to widen the KIOCL-Jokatte railway gate road for a special road-cum-pipeline corridor. This had raised fears of flooding during the monsoon on account of the constricted river channel among the residents of the Melukoppala and Athrebailu areas, which were located on the opposite bank.
The notice states that dumping mud into the river was a violation of the Coastal Regulatory Zone Notification 2011 and that the company should remove the mud within 15 days of receiving the notice. The notice was despatched to the company on April 5.
Assistant Director of the Coastal Regulatory Zone section of the department Mahesh Kumar told The Hindu that the company had been permitted to build a pipeline corridor on stilts in accordance with the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests on April 3, 2008.
Mr. Kumar said that the notice had been issued as the department wanted it to “stick to its commitment” and to let the company know that the department was keeping an eye on things. However, he said that the CRZ law did not have any provision empowering the department to take any punitive action without the permission of the State Government.
He said that any violation, if not rectified by the offender, had to be brought to the State Government for appropriate action. On the direction of the State Government, the environment department could file a case in the tahsildar's court, Mr. Kumar said.
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