Stormwater drains have become open sewage carriers: Hosabettu

Council Opposition leader of Mangaluru City Corporation Ganesh Hosabettu has said that the functioning of wet wells in Mangaluru has been paralysed and sewage flows on open drains in several parts of the city.

He told reporters here on Saturday that the stormwater drains had become open sewage carriers. He said residents had been complaining of unbearable stench emanating from the drains.

He said that staff working at wet wells and STPs have been on a stir for the past five days as they have not been paid salaries for the past three months. The protest by the staff has aggravated the situation, he said and accused the officials of failing to find a solution to the problems. The ruling Congress is silent on the issue, he said.

“The overflowing sewage on roads from Pandeshwar, Kudroli, Kodialguthu, Kandathpalli, Sulthan Bathery, Kodikal, Dambel, Kottara Chowki, Bangrakulooru and Kavoor wet wells has been causing inconvenience to the public,” he said.

He said that there are three pumps at Kavoor Sewage Treatment Plant of which, two have become defunct. “Three pumps are essential during monsoon. When one available pump stops functioning, then the sewage overflows on national highway at Kottara Chowki to Bangrakuloor and joins the water body.

The blocked manhole near a private college on Kuloor-Kavoor road has broken allowing the sewage to flow till Maladi Court, causing inconvenience to the residents of the region,” he said. 

“When the issue of the five wet wells in Surathkal becoming dysfunctional was brought to the notice of the Council meeting on May 31, the Mayor promised to set it right within 15 days. However, no action has been taken to plug the loopholes,” he said.

With no steps being taken to de-clog the drain, residents fear such stagnation of sewage could pose a health hazard, he said.  BJP Corporator Premananda Shetty said that in spite of availability of water in the Thumbe vented dam, about 10 wards in Mangaluru including Kankanady, Valencia, Pandeshwara, Bunder, Cantonment and Central were facing acute shortage of water for the past few days. Owing to the fault in concrete road works, a single rain inundates most of the roads in the city. The stormwater drains have not been constructed scientifically, he said.

Works on footpaths and junctions too have not been taken up in the city, he said.