The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the Central and state governments to act against “endosulfan poisoning” in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts as the pesticide was wreaking havoc on many families there.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna, hearing a suo motu petition, observed that the endosulfan chemical had ruined “generations.” The court pointed out that a mother wanted her endosulfan-affected child to die as she thought there would not be anyone to look after it, in case of her death first. Such instances depicted the gravity of the situation.

Describing that the health problems caused to people in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts from the use of endosulfan are “next only to the Bhopal gas tragedy”, the State government on Wednesday submitted to the Karnataka High Court that it was time to make the polluter to pay compensation in such cases.

Submission in this regard was made before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B.V. Nagarathna during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition, initiated suo motu by the court, on the issue of sufferings of the people affected by the use of endosulfan in two districts. The PIL petition was initiated following a letter written by K.L. Manjunath, a judge of the High Court.

As many as 103 gram panchayats will be presented with the Nirmal Gram Puraskar award by Governor H R Bhardwaj on Saturday.

The gram panchayats have been selected for the award as they were “100 per cent defecation free”, said Sanjeev Kumar, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. Addressing the media along with RDPR Minister K S Eshwarappa, Kumar said three districts in Karnataka, including Dakshina Kannada had been declared completely free of defecation.

The contagious disease can affect human beings too, says officer

Milk Ring Test will be conducted on 1500 milk samples collected from the Dakshina Kannada Milk Union Ltd, bulk milk coolers, chilling centers, milk producers co-operative societies and private milk vendors, in order to find out the presence of Brucellosis disease in the cattle in the district. Informing the same at a technical workshop on National Control Programme on Brucellosis organised by Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayat, DKMUL, Veterinary Department and District Veterinary Doctors’ Association at DKMUL premises on Friday,

The State government was resorting to “jugglery of words” when speaking about the Netravati diversion project and the Yettinahole project, member of the Western Ghats Task Force B.M. Kumaraswamy said here on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Hindu here on the sidelines of a programme organised by the task force and the Department of Forests, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the government was denying that there was any attempt to divert the Netravati, and instead it was saying that it would supply drinking water to Kolar, Chickballapur, Chitradurga and Bangalore Rural districts from the Yettinahole, a tributary of the Netravati, he said.

Water scarcity always evokes a knee-jerk measure - drilling borewells; long-term plans need of the hour.

Every drop is priceless: Scramble for water is a common sight in villages during summer. Given the ever-increasing demand for the precious commodity, only scientific conservation methods will save the day. Elected representatives are demanding more and more funds from the government for drilling borewells in the 123 drought affected taluks spread across 24 districts.

Woes galore at makeshift care centre for disabled

A day care centre for the disabled, especially the endosulfan victims, which was opened in Kokkada town of Belthangady taluk almost a year ago, urgently needs a permanent building. But there is little hope it would materialise any time soon.

Implementation of the hydro-electric project will help ease power situation in Karnataka

The time has come for power-starved Karnataka to make a tough call on implementing the long-pending 200-MW Gundia Hydro-Electric Project (GHEP) in Hassan and Dakshina Kannada districts.

The hydel project will cause loss of biodiversity and significant environmental impact

As many as 176 villages will be benefited from 30 surface water schemes. The zilla panchayat engineering division of Dakshina Kannada has proposed to draw more water from the River Nethravathi.

Pages