“Like refugees in their own land, land owners are now working as coolies for others,” says G.M.Munirathnam, President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) in Pernambut town. Munirathnam showed, this writer, acres of land lying fallow, due to the excessive soil salinity caused by the tanneries.
Pernambut is in the tannery belt of Vellore district. There are 36 tanneries in and around the town. 18 of them pipe their effluents, 350 kilolitres in total, to TALCO Pernambut Tannery Effluent Treatment Company.
This writer observed effluent tanks of the company leaking. The land around the plant had shades of blue, black and white, and the whole area had a foul stench. Children play cricket in the vicinity of these open-air tanks.
Salim Basha, the manager of the plant, said that the total dissolved solids (TDS) levels of the treated water discharged by the plant, is five times the permissible limit. In 12 to 18 months, he hopes to complete a government sponsored renovation and upgrade of the plant, which would bring this under control.
“The water discharged from this plant is unfit for any purpose like agriculture, drinking etc. It is let off into the Palar river bed,” says Basha. The Palar now runs dry as it has been dammed off in Karnataka.
Munirathnam says that the company has been promising this for months without showing any results. “Tanneries have not paid the cess for compensating farmers that have lost their livelihood due to their pollution. The government doesn’t touch them.”
He points out that people suffer from vomiting, dysentery and renal failure due to the ground water. In localities like KK Nagar and MGR Nagar, cases of cardiac problems in children have been reported.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) had, in the past, closed down 135 tanneries, for causing pollution. This has not proved a sufficient deterrent on to the tanneries, which continue to plague Vellore district.
1 comment:
I went to Ranipet once. To the leather factories there.. It's a pretty place, but you can see the change as you go from Vellore to Ranipet.. It's initially a beautiful road and then it becomes drier and drier..
Post a Comment