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Tanneries
Pollute Vellore
The city famous for its super speciality hospital
is now acquiring a newfound status of a toxic hot spot
By VK Shashikumar
The Ministry of Environment
and Forests has for long upheld its belief that Common Effluent Treatments
Plants (CETPs) are the solution to the illegal dumping of toxic effluents
by industries across India. The Supreme Court Monitoring Committee (SCMC)
on hazardous principally considers CETPs and secure land fills to dump
hazardous wastes as the solution to illegal dumping of toxic effluents
in rivers and arable land. However, even the SCMC suspects the efficacy
of CETPs operating in the country. In its report on Tamil Nadu the SCMC
sought prior information from the State Pollution Control Board relating
to the number of CETPs that were in compliance of the environmental standards
for discharge of liquid effluent. This was because the “data on
CETPs supplied by the Board during the SCMC’s visit was not adequate
in terms of treatment system place, performance of the units and the characteristics
of final treated effluent.”
But
Indian farmers who have had the misfortune of cultivating arable land
in the vicinity of industries are aware that CETPs are not the panacea
for polluting effluents. Kuppanga, a farmer, whose farm adjoins a CETP
complex in Vellore, affirms the ‘dead at birth’ status of
the CETP.
“The
entire toxic waste goes into a pit inside the CETP compound. There it
is sieved as it streams into a septic tank. But at this juncture the toxic
sludge leaks out and contaminates the soil. The toxic waste has degraded
the fertility of my land. Invariably only one in five crop does well.
I told the officials of CETP that the inefficient handling of the toxic
waste is the primary reason for the crop on my field drying up, but they
just don’t care.”
In
fact the CETP in Vellore was touted as the solution to all the effluent
problems, but Kuppanga says that even the treated water is full of toxic
chemicals. “When the ‘treated water’ is released by
the CETP it gushes out and the chemicals are not visible to the naked
eye. But the moment it dries up on the land you can see the white residues
of the chemical.” Farmers also complain of foul smell emanating
from the ‘treated water’. “We can’t even walk
through our fields. We can tell from experience that when we come into
contact with the ‘treated water’ we get ulcerations on our
skins and it stings like an insect bite,” says Kuppanga.
The
SCMC has expressed serious concern over the extremely hazardous wastes
dumped by Tamilnadu Chromates and Chemicals in the open environment in
violation of the hazardous waste rules. According to the SCMC “the
Geological Survey of India has reported contamination of ground water
up to a distance of 2.5 kms from the dumping site of the unit. Despite
this finding the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has carried out a
survey of the people affected by such contamination of ground water and
there is no accurate data available of affected facilities.
The
other reason for the contamination of the ground water in Vellore is because
the tanneries are dumping their effluents into city’s lifeline—the
Palar River. All the tanneries here from Vaniampadi to Ranipet dump their
effluents into the river. The tannery industry in Vellore earlier worked
on organic production processes. But with the introduction of modern production
technologies the tanneries wilfully ignored the need to set up effluent
treatment plants.
The
high pollution level of the Palar is because the tanneries are completely
dependent on the river for their fresh water used in the production processes.
The Ranipet pumphouse is the place from where the tanneries source the
fresh water. “ They are paid 30 lakhs per year. They charge Rs 50
for 1 tanker truck, that is, ten thousand litres. Everyday hundreds of
tankers transport fresh water to the tanneries and all the effluent is
directed back to the riverbed,” says Srinivasan. What has compounded
the problem is the significant increase in the setting up of new tanneries
and up scaling of leather production.
The
Palar River bed is dry most of the year because it is a seasonal river.
It stirs to life every year during the monsoon. When the river is devoid
of water the riverbed is quarried for its 15 feet of sand. Palar is the
primary source of drinking water for the residents of Vellore. But those
who live in this city made famous by the super speciality hospital, Christian
Medical College, say that the clear water of Palar has turned into blood
red. A local environment group, Pasumai Thayagam, affirms that the red
toxic water has destroyed sources of potable drinking water in various
localities of Vellore like Ambur, Vaniampadi and Ranipet.
There
have been instances when red toxic water has gushed out of newly dug bore
wells. Srinivasan, an environment activist of Pasumai Thayagam, vents
his desperation: “Where is the government? Where are the pollution
control authorities? Why doesn’t anyone come here to check and find
ways to stop it?”
This article is published under the fellowship programme of the National
Foundation for India
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