Mysuru: “Rapid and unpredictable climate change has forced the City of Cape Town in South Africa to introduce water rationing and this day is not far off when we see the situation in Bengaluru which is suffering from acute water shortage,” said Principal District and Sessions Court Judge Suresh K. Vontigodi.

He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘World Earth Day’ celebrations jointly organised by the Zilla Panchayat, District Legal Services Authority, District Administration and Bar Association at the ZP premises here this morning and said that the main reason for the landslides in Kerala and Madikeri was due to rapid urbanisation.

The natural and organic farming methods have been given up and instead chemicals and fertilisers are being used which leads to water, soil and air pollution. As the forest cover reduces, the rainfall decreases and this leads to drought and other conditions, he said.  The plastic that is generated is mindboggling as nearly eight lakh tonnes of waste is generated which is not biodegradable thus polluting the air, earth and the oceans. Instead of plastic, people should make a vow to use brass and copper vessels to drink water, he said. He said if remedial measures like recycling of water and rain water harvesting is not followed then the future generations will be in grave danger.

ZP Chief Executive Officer K. Jyothi, Senior Civil Judge and Member Secretary, District Legal Services Authority B.P. Devamane, Chief Conservator of Forests Ambadi Madhava, ZP Planning Officer Prabhuswamy, Bar Association President Anand Kumar, Assistant Superintendent of Police Sneha  and others were present.

News 12

News 13