Hubbali: In a bid to save the Unkal Lake, students and residents of Unkal and representatives of various organizations continued their campaign and gathered at the lake park here on Friday. The campaign was held to seek steps to save the lake.
An open house discussion was organized by the Unkal Kere Hitarakshana Samiti. This event was organized by elders, teachers and a few government officials. During the course of the discussion, HDMC Counsellor Rajanna Koravi said that although the government had promised steps to save the lake, there was a need for immediate action.
The problem related to the lake in question is that, despite a few diversion projects, the sewage from residential area enters the lake daily and is resulting in pollution and water weeds are engulfing it. Sewage enters the lake from four sides. The sewage from Navanagar has been diverted. While tenders for the projects on sewage diversion from Amaragol and Gamanagatti worth Rs. 6.7 crore have been floated, the Rs. 11.5-crore project for diverting sewage from Sutagatti is yet to get sanction from the government.
The gathering at the open discussion was promised that steps were being taken by Municipal Corporation. Mayor Ashwini Majjagi, Deputy Mayor Smita Jadhav and Municipal Commissioner C.M. Noor Mansoor also referred to the recent visit of Minister for Urban Development Vinay Kumar Sorake who had promised to release funds for sewage diversion projects.
Mr. Koravi said that while Mr. Sorake had promised sanctioning of the project and convening a meeting in Bengaluru within a week, the samiti had launched a post card campaign to highlight the issue. “We are distributing over 20,000 post cards among the school children and citizens. The post cards will be sent to the Governor, Chief Minister and the Urban Development Minister seeking funds. We also appeal to the citizens to also participate in the campaign,” he said.
President of Dharwad Zilla Kannada Sahitya Parishat Moorusavirappa Koravi, Taluk unit president L.R. Angadi, environmentalist K.S. Koujalagi, physician V.B. Nitali, councilor Mallikarjun Hosakeri were also present.
