PRAGATHI NAGAR
It began with ample of enthusiasm, there was no doubt a kick start to this new motion of mine of actually straining myself up and down through rough terrain to get to the dream destination of mine and spot the place I was looking for...Praveen had once intimated me about this place. Praveen, i knew him since the time i was working on my article "Dream Machine". It was all about how George had made his own functional car and boat. Praveen is friend of George...
His message to me was -one of the beautiful places of Manipal -Pragathi Nagar is in real threat. The vast land all blanketed green, fresh and oxygenated is death alarmed to utter insanity by the Municipal Corporation. The stretch of pasture with a little water body makin its way throuh it tall, huge, small, bushy trees bordering all the corners . A little heaven under the clear blue sky...desperately needing nature's attention to keep it untouched , undisturbed ,calm and perhaps serene. The air that criss crossed across faces was all so fresh and lively...the perfect booster 4 a tired mind and a wetched soul to recreate and beautify...inexhaustable source of joy and happiness.
Often many of us, I mean Manipalites on our way to the temple town Udupi in a bus come the giant heap of garbage to the right of the road. The stingy air over there is nose tightening and mouth shutting infact. Yes that is the waste dumping yard of Udupi city....the smell generated is terrible...and very obvious in tolerable. Over tonnes of waste get deposited there every day..Beside the dumping yard is the stretch of slums...the chocolate fantasy with butter scotch combination...
The initial info of Praveen given - there was a park in Pragathi Nagar which is being demolished and in its place is going to sniff up a dumping area.
"This is bad" my thought process exclaimed!!!!
My target was the Municiapal Council Udupi...Met Mr. Guru Prasad there..a humble gentle man...ready to speak kind of.
With the little information about the place and the incident I approached him. As I had expected a lot of things followed .
The 100m acres at pragathi nagar is under a major developement project...we have planned to construct a solid waste management .
Companies from Bangalore have come down with there ideas to make proper utilization of the vast land there. The udupi dumping yard is is going to be shifted to Pragathi Nagar. We are going to recycle the waste in the solid waste management plant.
All these and many more said Mr.Guru Prasad the Chairman Municipal Corp Udupi...But the problem is there are about 100 houses that under ilegal encroachment. The owners of those houses are basicaly labourers. They are not even under the privelige to be capable enough to get there land legally converted to claim...we have provisions for there evacuation but the process is still developing. The dumping yard is just a scrap of the bigger Mannapalla Project where in a lake will be developed with all tourism facilities beside a vast palntation of trees and other ornamental plants...
Enlightened with all these facts I headed to the District Colector's Office-Mr.Ponnuraj!!!!!!
It was 3 at the max when i reached his office....Perfectly he was not there seated in his sexy office....It was around 5 when he came in...and it was 1 hour henece when i could actually talk to him... I was asked to come some other day coz he was too busy!!!!!
What else can i expect from an IAS Officer?????
Xcuse me if i am being a little rude now!!!
The next day i decided I will go to pragathi Nagar!!!
Me and my friend Prasunna(Why Prasunna The Crackpot-coz he can understand Kannada) !!!!!!!!!!! hired an auto and set 2 go....The road not taken style...up the hill and down again...I was realy scared...road was 2 bad...finally we saw the place but decided 2 get bak 2 it the next day!!!
Paid a good amount to Subramaniam -The auto guy!!!
He promised to take us to the palce the next day!!!
The next day-We were there, saw the dumping yard..it is in its formative state..around it was a little set up of the houses of the workers..On one side of the dumping yard is Allevor village and to the othe side is another village Karwal..Nothing much was there to account finally i thought it would be really good if i catch hold of a resident and take his stand on the issue...Tilak Nath Manjeswar was my man!!!!!!
Yes we saw few people sitting and chatting...Just dropped in2 the house...trust me got guest like treatment...n loads of info...Tilak's words-80 acers of land has been assigned by the Government in the memory of Dr.Shivarama Karnath to buid a recreation park. A dumping yard next to this place is sheer madness. More over there villages surrounding it...Intollerable smell, eaterie for microbes and other vector of diseases , pollutants for the ground water table!!!!
The dumping yard is gifting us all these...We raised voce against the dumping yard...We even wrote to the DM...but of no use..!!!
On being asked about the illegal houses he says-The evacuation process has got nothing to do with the process of recreational establishment.
We also spoke to Chandra ,a coolie by bread and butter whose house was on illegal terms..same he contributed..
my next destination was President of the Alevoor Gram Panchayat Harish Shreigar..About the evacuation of houses he didn't have much to say....but on the dumping yard issue he had a lot to pity upon..his narration was all about there stories of sad appeals and failures!!!!
Finally i spoke to Kamath Sir...(M.V.Kamath- Chair person Prasar Bharathi)
Got a lot of inspiration from him..
My next destination is Ponnuraj the DM- m waiting for him 2 get free so that he can spare a few minutes to take me forward over this assignment on mine...
well i am waiting for him 2 get free...hopefully i await 4 my success...in meeting him and knowing the WHAT NEXT OF PRAGATHI NAGAR!!!!!
I will defenitely finish this unfinished artile...till then what do u guys fell...question 4 all of u who come across this article...till the time i find what next can u suggest me a WHAT NEXT??????
1 comments:
Post a Comment