Environment group opposes PCB

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI, JULY 22. The Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithy has urged the Government to dissolve the Pollution Control Board as the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report has indicted the Board.

The CAG report had blamed the PCB for failure to curb the pollution problem arising out of the discharge of toxic effluents from factories in the Eloor belt, the Samithy pointed out. The PCB had promised to close unauthorised effluent pipes into the Periyar river, to announce moratorium on new chemical industries and to establish permanent monitoring system at Eloor ferry in response to the agitation organised by the Samity last year. It has not implemented any of these, the Samity said.

In the Eloor belt, about 50 effluent discharge pipes have been let out into the river. Out of these, about 30 are unauthorised, according to a statement issued by the samity. The incinerator of the Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) plant at Eloor is emitting dioxin, a toxic material, it said.

Many companies are engaged in acquiring ISO standards by adhering to certain standards, but the certification authorities never enquire about the problems faced by people residing in the neighbourhood. The fertilizer company, FACT, acquired ISO 14001 certification even while two cases filed by the PCB against the company were pending in courts, the samity pointed out. The effluents released by chemical industries produce Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) which enter the human body through air, skin and food. This toxic material has a very long life span in the human body and has the potential to generate many new lethal diseases, the statement said.

There is a move initiated by the United Nations to eliminate a dozen of POPs worldwide. Dioxin, released by HIL and other chemical units at Eloor belongs to this genre. It is said to be two million times stronger than DDT. Experts are clamoring to include `Endosulphan' (produced at HIL) in the POP list.

The highly toxic wastes from the factory have been released into the Kuzhikkandam canal which leads into the Periyar river. A study conducted in the Eloor area by the international environment group, Greenpeace, had found the existence of 111 chemical compounds on the banks of the canal. These compounds generate a host of health problems affecting blood circulation, lungs, liver, reproductive system, etc.

The PCB and the factory management have initiated a programme to cleanse the Kuzhikkandam canal by removing the silt containing chemical toxins and filling the nearby fields with it. This will be another dangerous step, the statement said. It is not clear whether the intention of the factory management is to cleanse the canal for making it useful for the people or just to dump the toxic wastes again into it. The only solution lies in stopping the dumping of toxic wastes, the Samity said.

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