Karwar: The City Municipal Council has taken up a new method to control littering in public places. They have decided to put up signboards all over the city warning people about the presence of snakes in particular areas so that they do not litter.

Putting up sign boards indicating presence of snakes is a common practice in coastal Karnataka. This is used to prevent people from trespassing in private owned places and also to check theft. Karwar CMC has spent crores of rupees to keep the city clean and tidy but despite this, some people have been undoing the hard work of the council by constantly littering the place.

The most polluted place here is the Karwar beach which is littered with liquor bottles and plastic covers. According to a report by times of India daily, a CMC official said that it has become a Herculean task for them to keep the beach clean. “Despite our request not to dirty the city, some people continue to spoil its beauty. We think at least 50% of people may heed our request fearing the snake god,” the official said.

There has been criticism towards this step by some who claim that this will create a wrong impression about Karwar as a city of snakes in the minds of the tourist. Nandu Naik, an activist, told Times of India, “ We cannot turn it into a Fake Naga Loka.”