DRAVIDA PERAVAI AND NARAMBAI FISHERMEN PANCHAYAT FILE WRIT IN HIGH COURT

RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION AT THE COST OF CLEAN ENVIRONMENT ?

Report in The IndianExpress- 16.1.1996 by T.Manivannan

The Pondicherry Government may boast about rapid growth in industries in Pondicherry region in the past decade, but the achievement instead of improving the quality of life of the citizens, has only made life miserable for the people at length in the heavily industrialized Kirumampakkam area of Bahour commune. Industrial pollution in the Kirumampakkam area, which has been the most talked about subject in lay circles in past few years and more has now been confined by the findings of an expert study sponsored by the Government itself which is however predictably gathering dust somewhere in the bureaucratic cupboards.

Air, water, land as well as the biotic environment of Pillayarkuppam-Kirumampakkam area have already become grossly polluted with the pollution levels exceeding the parameters set by the regulatory agencies, the hitherto unpublished interim report of a study by the Center for Pollution Control and Bio Waste Energy of The Pondicherry University has revealed.

The Environment Impact and Sustainability studies in Pillayarkuppam-Kirumampakkam areas as the study has been called commissioned by the Government of Pondicherry at the height of criticism from the public on the degradation of the environment in the area, is yet to be over but the interim report itself submitted to the Government in 1994 is devastating.

Air in Kirumampakkam which lies on the Pondicherry-Cuddalore road is unclean and falls below the standards of air quality prescribed by the regulatory agencies like Central Pollution Control Board and the Department of Science&Technology and Environment of Pondicherry Government, the report has stated. In the samplings obtained during 1800 hours of eight hour exercises over a period of five months, it was found that all the samples taken in the sensitive area ( a primary school ) from winter to summer indicated air pollution. Even in the PIPDIC Industrial Estate where being an industrial area, much more liberal standards of air quality are applicable than in the residential and sensitive areas, as many as 86 percent of the samples taken in a particular month were polluted.The samples collected in residential areas also revealed extensive pollution. While in one residential site 80 percent of the samples taken in a month indicated air pollution., in a second site 60 percent of the samples were found to be of unacceptable air quality.The study states that none of the areas sampled in the Pillayarkuppam-Kirumampakkam is free from air pollution, and in some months, the pollution is so damagingly persistent that the air is harmful most of the time.

The report notes that all through the study by a coincidence the atmospheric stability was never at its worst possible.: In situation such as during heavy cloud cover when the stability will be more than during our studies, the concentrations of the air pollutants are likely to be higher and more persistent and their impact on the environment is likely to be more severe, it warns........ ( To be concluded)

Industrialization and Environment II

WATER SCENARIO TAKES ALARMING PROPORTIONS

Report in 18.1.1996 The Indian Express by T.Manivannan

While the air quality in the industrialized Kirumampakkam  -Pillayarkuppam areas has been found to be polluted, the water environment scenario is most alarming.A combination of excessive ground water withdrawal by industries and pollution of the aquifers due to letting out industrial effluents has wrought havoc on the drinking water front in the villages around Kirumampakkam, the Environment Impact assessment conducted by the Center for Pollution Control and Bio Waste Energy of the Pondicherry University has revealed.

The samples taken during  a three month period had electrical conductivity above the drinking water standards, in a majority of cases several times higher. The Total Dissolved Solids also were above the permissible limits. Alkalinity, hardness, sulphate, BOD, phosphorous  etc were also too high in all but a few samples.

The study states that the pollution of the water environment might be due to heavy withdrawal of ground water leading to salinity intrusion and pollution of aquifers due to industrial effluents. Barely eleven years ago, many of the now salinised wells were usable according to the report. After the establishment of the industries during the 1980's and consequent spurt in ground water extraction, the salinity intrusion began and in a few years several well had become saline.

Aggravating this seriously was the pollution caused by industries by way of effluents discharged in ponds and on land and run off from the solid waste dumps. These have polluted surface water bodies which being rain fed should not otherwise have become saline. The ground water also have been polluted by infiltration of these effluents. The study using statistical analysis of water quality data, concludes that the ponds and underground aquifers keep receiving waste waters of varying characteristics and concentrations due to industrial inputs.

More alarming is the finding that water samples taken from these areas contained excessive concentrations of toxic elements such as arsenic and mercury.Mercury was found in concentrations 16 to 38 times higher than the permissible limit in all the samples analyzed for heavy metals wherever arsenic was found to be crossing the permissible levels in 50 percent of the cases., the report states.

What has been the impact of such pollution on agriculture? The interim report has painted a rather grim picture of the situation in a separate chapter.Agriculture which was the favored occupation of the villagers till a couple of decades ago, has with the advent of small scale industries suffered a slight set back. to gradually worsen thereafter, the report says.Paddy yield has dwindled to half of the yield of the pre industrialisation years, rice quality had come down save in Babour area, some paddy fields have become completely useless for agriculture forcing the farmers to switch to casuarina plantations.In the fields where casuarina plantation was going on for several years, the yield and profit has been reduced to nearly one third of the past years. Cultivation of ragi and millets has been completely stopped because of lack of water. The number of pods in groundnut crops has also shrunk considerably compared to the past, the report says.

Solid waste dumps piled across the villages are not only a major environmental hazard but also objectionable from purely a civic point of view because they are either dumped on government land or private property. The run off from solid waste during rains also pollute the surface water and the percolation wells dug by the local bodies to collect water during the rainy season. Solid waste also contaminates the nearby vegetation and when cattle grazes on such vegetation the pollutants contaminate them and through them reach humans. The impact of the pollutants is particularly severe on children, the report states

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In its interim recommendations the study calls for a ban on new industries that has gaseous, aqueous or solid emissions to come up in the area. No permission should be granted for capacity expansion to any such industry unless strong and swift steps are taken for bringing down pollutant emission levels and restoring the water and land environments. only non polluting industries may be permitted as of now. In order to bring down the air and water pollution levels in the area, it is imperative that pollution contro; measures thus far adopted by each of the industries are reviewed and suitably upgraded, the study states.

The government which received the interim report in September 1994, is yet to make it public or even place it in the Assembly. Criticizing this N.Nandhivarman an environmental activist concentrating on green issues said "allocating money for a study... to escape from criticism and keep even interim reports as sensitive state secrets does not augur well for an open society. enclosing a copy of the Interim Report to the National Human Rights Commission Nandhivarman wanted the commission to direct the Ministry of Environment and Forests to withdraw The delegation of powers conferred on the Pondicherry Pollution Control Committee in 1992 and confer it on the Central Pollution Control Board. [Concluded]

THEN A WRIT WAS FILED IN HIGH COURT OF MADRAS JOINTLY BY
 NARAMBAI VILLAGE PANCHAYAT AND DRAVIDA PERAVAI