Long Term Project to Clean The Two Lifelines of Mangalore River Nethravathi & River Gurupura

October 23: City-based environmental NGO Anti Pollution Drive Foundation (APDF) has entered into an agreement with Bangalore-based Hasiru Dala to implement a long-term project to clean River Nethravathi and River Gurupura, the two lifelines of Mangalore.
An MoU on the project was signed by Nalini Shekar, co-founder and executive director of Hasiru Dala, and Abdullah A Rehman, APD founder-chief.
The APD team and the Hasiru Dala team had been working on this collaboration for the past three months. The next stage of this collaboration is to conduct a scientific study and bring out an action plan within three months.
Abdullah A Rehman, APD founder-chief said that Gurupura and Nethravathi rivers are highly polluted by the time they join the Arabian Sea. While chemical pollution in the rivers has many sources, one of the sources contributed by every citizen directly or indirectly in Mangalore is the dumping of solid waste, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable. There is a need for urgent action to prevent dumping of plastic items in the ocean, he added.
Rehman also mentioned that an awareness campaign, in collaboration with the citizens of Mangalore, will be organised. The NGOs will work with the MCC and other urban local bodies for better waste segregation in wards that are responsible for polluting the rivers. They will also organise the waste pickers and create an opportunity for waste pickers to become waste entrepreneurs.