Mangaluru: Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management, located at Adyar on the outskirts of the city has been accused of illegally using ‘paromboke’ land (government land not assigned to anybody) as a playground for its students, despite several protests from locals since two years.
According to documents obtained through RTI by advocate Abhishek Marla, a resident of Adyar, the college had allegedly flouted rules of Coastal Regulatory Zone (CRZ) by dumping several loads of mud in the Nethravathi River – during the construction of a playground.
When Newskarntaka.com did a reality check on November 25, the government land which is available right behind the college was made into a playing field. The leveled ground is located very adjacent to the Nethravathi River and it does not have a river bank. In the edge of the river, several trees have been planted which divides the river and the huge playground.
Following complaints from residents in the past, the Regional Director of the Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology had conducted a spot inspection and warned the management in writing to remove the mud, which was dumped in the river. When it was not removed, the subsequent notice warned that if the college management did not remove the encroachment in seven days, they could be booked under Karnataka Land Revenue Act 1964, Section 94 and 192, which are punishable by imprisonment.
In reply to the notice, Bhandary Foundation, which runs the college, said they proposed to build the playground abutting Coastal Regulatory Zone area and there was no encroachment. “However, during at night, river mud would be taken in the boats from the marshy government area between the college and the river. And because of this, there was a possibility of the playground flooding when it rained. Using excess mud from the college land, we decided to fill this land,” it said. The reply claimed that the mud had been “removed” after the notice was sent.
Subsequently, the Lokayukta registered a case against the management holding them guilty of dumping mud along the river. The case is now pending before the court.
Speaking to Newskarnataka.com, Manjunath Bhandary, Chairman of Bhandary Foundation said that the playground was not restricted to the usage of only the college students. “We are not stopping others from utilizing it. Even the public makes use of the land”, he said and added that there is excess sand mining taking place close to the college, which is not highlighted.
Dismissing claims of land encroachment, he said that the college has not constructed any building neither we are using it for commercial purposes. We only leveled it and planted trees in the edge’, he added.
Contending the claims of Manjunath, Abhishek Marla says that the management of Sahyadri has tampered with the nature, which according to the law is wrong.
Tulu festival at same venue
More importantly, the contentious matter further worsened after the district administration okayed to host ‘Vishwa Tuluvera Parba’ (Global Tulu Festival) at the same venue, which is scheduled to be held in mid-December.
“Our continuous fight against the college for misusing the government land – has no meaning if the organizers host the festival here. It’s a ‘paromboke land’, which is not meant for anybody’s use”, Mr. Marla said and added in the name of Tulu festival, Sahyadri College is eyeing on the government land for permanent use.
He said, in the past when the college sought permission to allow its students to use it as playground, the then Tahashildar had refused the permission, citing it was a ‘paromboke’ land. The college which has its own playground has leased out its usage to the Karnataka State Cricket Association”, claims Mr. Marla. When the issue of land encroachment is in the court, how can thesame land be used for the festival?, he questioned.
When asked Navaneeth Shetty Kadri, organizing committee member of the Tulu festival, he said Pilikula Nisargadhama was our first choice of location. However, since they did not co-operate with us, we had to choose Sahyadri College premises.
District in-charge minister B. Ramanath Rai told Newskarnataka.com that he was not aware of any such issues.
However, Deputy Commissioner A.B Ibrahim said that he is aware of the issue. “The file has come to me. I will examine it in fifteen days”, he said.
Besides, few environmental activists are likely to hold demonstration during the inagural of Global Tulu festival, to showcase seriousness of the issue.
