Date:23/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/23/stories/2008122355540700.htm

Tamil Nadu

Concrete wall to curb pollution in canal

Staff Reporter

ERODE: State Minister for Public Works Department Durai Murugan has said that the Department, to arrest pollution in Kalingarayan Canal, would construct a concrete wall on the right bank.

Talking to journalists after inspecting a portion of the Canal on Sunday morning, he said the Department would construct the wall in about a year-and-half’s time, so that effluents from tanneries and dyeing units did not enter the Kalingarayan Canal.

He pointed out that the effluents that entered the water had not only affected cultivation on 20,000 acres but had also caused skin problems and cancer in people living nearby.

The Minister said the 100 tanneries and 600-plus dyeing and bleaching units that had come up on the right and left banks of the Canal respectively, had so far managed to circumvent all steps the State Government had put in place to check pollution. He added that the State Government would continue its action against polluting industries and a part of the step was his visit to the area.