The Hindu : Kerala News : States told to guard against toxic waste dumping

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Friday, Aug 13, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

States told to guard against toxic waste dumping

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD, AUG. 12. The Monitoring Committee on Hazardous Waste set up by the Supreme Court has asked the coastal States to remain vigilant about the dumping of toxic waste on Indian shores and territorial waters by other countries.

The Committee Chairman, G. Thyagarajan, told The Hindu here today that coastal States like Kerala, with their long coastline, should make special arrangements to detect illegal dumping of hazardous waste in their coastal belt.

Members of the Committee are in Kerala to study the problem of environment pollution and disposal of industrial waste. They were in Palakkad today to inquire about complaints of pollution and depletion of groundwater following the operations of a Coca-Cola bottling plant at Plachimada and a Pepsi Cola unit at Kanjikkode.

He said the Committee, which visited Kochi and other parts of the State on Wednesday, found that the State was facing the problem of depletion of groundwater and its contamination. This is a major problem the Committee would be deliberating on.

The Committee visited the two soft drink units and examined the disposal of sludge there. It took evidence from various organisations which complained against these companies. The Chairman was accompanied by the members, Claude Alwares and Morarkar.

Panel's warning

The Chairman said that if the soft drink companies failed to follow pollution control measures while disposing of the sludge produced during the production process, the Committee would impose a heavy fine on them and direct them to set up foolproof pollution control measures.The organisations that gave evidence before the Committee at its sitting in the District Industries Centre were the Perumatty grama panchayat, People's Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL), Plachimada Solidarity Committee, Coca Cola Virudha Samara Samiti and workers of the company.

Panchayat's plea

The Perumatty grama panchayat (where the Coca-Cola plant is located) president, A. Krishnan, told the Committee that the panchayat had cancelled the licence of the unit as its operations affected the groundwater availability in the area. This has resulted in acute shortage of water for drinking and irrigation purposes. The depletion of groundwater also resulted in its contamination.

The PUCL secretary, P.A. Pauran, wanted the Committee to direct the company to provide compensation to the victims for their health problems and the economic loss. The convener of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee, R. Ajayan, and the chairman of the Coca Cola Virudha Samara Samiti, Vilayodi Venugopal, sought the closure of the Coca-Cola unit and criminal proceedings against the company.

The workers' representative, Rajendran, wanted the company to be opened and provide them employment opportunities. Its closure has put 500 families in great hardship, he said.

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