The forest officers of the Brahmagiri wildlife division caught two individuals dumping 15 luggage of medical waste into the Makuta reserve forest on Tuesday at midnight.
In line with forest officers, the 2 folks had been going again to Andhra Pradesh in a mini lorry after unloading items in Kerala. Whereas returning, the duo collected 15 luggage of biowaste from a hospital, which was alleged to be disposed of within the forest.
The arrested males have been recognized as Penchalaiah and Seena, natives of Andhra Pradesh.
“Final week, round 20 luggage of rubbish had been discovered on the roadside in Makutta reserve forest. The dumping of rubbish from Kerala has triggered outrage in social media as the images had been circulating broadly’’ Brahmagiri wildlife vary forest officer Dancy Dechamma stated.
“Quickly after that, we deputed a forest guard to observe the world. Whereas the accused dumped biowaste within the forest at 5.30 pm on Tuesday, the alert forest guards caught each of them,” she added.
The officers seized a Leyland lorry, registered a case beneath the wildlife safety act 1972 and produced them earlier than the Virajpet JMFC court docket, which remanded them to judicial custody for 14 days, Dechamma stated, including that the division fastened lure cameras in just a few locations and would enhance the variety of cameras quickly.
Officers stated that primarily based on the knowledge that hospitals in Kerala, bordering Karnataka, are sending waste in lorries to dump in forests after police and forest officers took stringent motion towards them for dumping in Kerala.
The Makutta Reserve Forest is part of the pristine Western Ghats and comes beneath the Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. It helps fragile biodiversity and has distinctive eco-sensitive features and brings bountiful rains to Kodagu and Kerala.
This a part of the Western Ghats helps distinctive natural world just like the Indian Gaur, Sambar Deer, Porcupine, Sloth Bear, Leopard, Pangolin, Nilgiri Tahrs, Civet Cat, Asian Palm Civet, Wild Boars, Wild Canines, Barking Deer, Nilgiri Monkeys, Langurs, Bonnet Macaque, Lion-tailed Macaque and Elephants.
The Kodagu Rakshana Vedike, a pro-people group president Achchandira Pavan Pemmaiah instructed HT that the dumping began on a small scale a yr again and now swelled to a big scale because of the negligent angle of the forest division.
The forest division has a test submit at Kodagu –Kerala border, however forest officers didn’t test automobiles even when it stuffed with waste. He alleged that the lorry drivers bribed them, so that they permits lorries to move waste.
Pemmaiah urged the forest division to take stringent motion towards vans, and mini lorries transporting biomedical waste and ship them again to Kerala itself from test posts. He additionally warned of extreme agitation if the division permits waste lorries to ply within the forest in future.