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<div class="itg-mosimage"><amp-img src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1981December%2Fpollouion_102413111447.jpg" alt="" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img>A factory chimney: high toxicity<p>Vazhakkad, a pretty village on the banks of the Chaliyar river in Mallapuram district, Kerala, is slowly dying. Every day the village is bombarded by a continuous stream of air and water pollution caused by the Rs 120 crore Pulp and Staple Fibre Division of the Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing Company Limited (GRASIM) located in Mavoor village on the opposite bank.<br><br>Last fortnight the Committee for the Prevention of Air and Water Pollution in Chaliyar river, a loose-knit body of the villagers who have been waging a relentless battle against GRASIM for the last two decades, staged a dharna in front of the factory gates to protest against the poisonous fumes such as sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and chlorine which belch forth from the factory chimneys.</p><p>Said 41-year-old Abdur Rahman, the <i>dhoti</i>-clad secretary and convener of the committee: "Our village is dying. Women faint every day because of the fumes. Almost all of us are suffering from respiratory and heart diseases. Our crops are wilting. Vazhakkad has lost its prosperity. Either the factory must take precautionary measures or we will agitate for its closure."<br><br><b>Stalling Tactics:</b> Sensing the militant mood of Vazhakkad's 24,000 population, GRASIM's balding Joint-President R. N. Saboo announced that he was shutting down the factory's sulphuric acid plant for repairs. In reality this move was made to stall any further agitation, GRASIM is already in deep trouble with the Kerala State Board for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. </p><p>Only last month after a sustained agitation by the villagers the board slapped a case on GRASIM for discharging its effluent through illegal outlets and dumping it into the river without treating it to the prescribed levels. </p><p>The board found the smelly, blackish and highly toxic effluent discharged by the factory endangered plant and animal life in the river and rendered the water unfit for human consumption. Denying the charge Saboo pleaded: "We are doing the best we can to treat the effluent but the board and the villagers are unsympathetic."'<br><br>Saboo's complaints about the attitude of the villagers and the board are ironic. The factory was set up in 1963 but it has still not taken adequate measures to treat its effluent. When fish started dying soon after the factory was opened, destroying in the process Vazhakkad's traditional livelihood, the villagers launched an agitation. </p><p>The factory hastily agreed to dump its effluents into the sea 20 km away but asked for three years to lay the pipeline necessary for the job. The problem of atmospheric pollution has also been equally serious ever since the factory was started. </p><div class="itemcenter"><amp-iframe height="62" title="" width="320" sandbox="allow-forms allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-top-navigation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" allowfullscreen src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014%5Cu0026native%3D1" class="mrBt15 preferred-source-banner"> </amp-iframe></div></p><p>As the factory is situated in a valley and Vazhakkad is on hilly ground, smoke from the factory chimneys invariably drifts across the village. This has caused crops to start yellowing and withering away. The cashew and palm trees of the village also get defoliated and hardly bear fruit.<br><br>The problem of water pollution is particularly severe because the Chaliyar is not a very big river. Therefore when large quantities of effluents are discharged into it, they do not get neutralised and their toxicity remains high. This problem becomes even more acute in summer when the level of the river falls, GRASIM adds to the difficulties further by drawing water from the river to run the factory. </p><p>To prevent effluents from getting back into its system it had constructed an earthen bundh across the river just before the spot where it discharges its effluents into the river. When in 1968 the factory had done nothing to treat the effluents the people broke the bundh and demanded the closure of the factory. </p><p>The state Government stepped in and appointed an expert committee which submitted its report in 1972 recommending certain treatment measures. The company again started dragging its feet and did not implement the recommended measures even after the Pollution Control Board came into existence in 1974. </p><p>The same year the state was forced to call a tripartite meeting between the management, the board and the people of Vazhakkad at Ramnilayam in Trichur district. According to the agreement the factory agreed to discharge its treated effluents at Chungapalli, a brackish water stretch of the river, 7 km downstream.<br><br>When in 1979, five years after the Ramnilayam agreement, the factory showed no signs of implementing it another agitation broke out and the state Government ordered GRASIM to shut down till the pipeline was laid. Within six months GRASIM laid the pipeline but it turned out to be a poor job.<br><br><b>Inadequate Measures:</b> While GRASIM now claims that it has spent Rs 2 crore for installing a treatment plant the board says that this is totally inadequate and has asked it to modify the plant. Meanwhile a report that the effluent has a high mercury content is causing alarm among the people. </p><p>Mercury is a highly toxic metal and can cause death if consumed in large quantities. K. T. Vijayamahadevan, a college professor, who is president of the Society for the Protection of the Environment, Kerala (SPEK) which has been supporting Vazhakkad's struggle, warned: "The Government had better make a study of the mercury problem fast or we may have another Minamoto on our hands." (In Minamoto in Kyushu, Japan, hundreds were killed and maimed by a plastic factory's effluents which contained mercury).<br><br>Today another agitation is breaking out in Chungapalli village where GRASIM is discharging its effluents through its 7 km pipeline. Meanwhile the people of Vazhakkad have stepped up their protest against atmospheric pollution. Said Dr G. S. Rajkumar, the village doctor: "Almost every child is suffering from a respiratory disease. Either it is tuberculosis or bronchial asthma. Almost every woman is anaemic and suffers from peptic ulcers which have to be operated upon. Most of the men suffer from heart diseases. I have never come across a village that is so sickly." About 10 families have abandoned their houses on the banks of the river and moved into the interior. </p><p>Said Ahmed Kutty, father of six sons: "All my children are having problems with their lungs and the doctor has advised me to shift from Vazhakkad." Fifty-year-eld Ayesha, another resident of the village, has become as thin as a skeleton in the last few years. She said she had fainted several times after inhaling the smoke and is now afflicted with tuberculosis.<br><br>Asked about the air pollution Saboo replied glibly :"We are conscious of our social obligations. At the same time we cannot adopt uneconomic measures to solve the problems. Nor can we tackle them overnight. The villagers must be patient." Till then the villagers, it appears, must patiently live with the poison that GRASIM throws out into the air and water.<br></p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Oct 24, 2013</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

environment

Environment

<div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Fmedia2%2Findiatoday%2Fimages%2Fstories%2F1981December%2Fpollouion_102413111447.jpg" loading="lazy" /></div>A factory chimney: high toxicity<p>Vazhakkad, a pretty village on the banks of the Chaliyar river in Mallapuram district, Kerala, is slowly dying. Every day the village is bombarded by a continuous stream of air and water pollution caused by the Rs 120 crore Pulp and Staple Fibre Division of the Gwalior Rayon Silk Manufacturing Company Limited (GRASIM) located in Mavoor village on the opposite bank.<br><br>Last fortnight the Committee for the Prevention of Air and Water Pollution in Chaliyar river, a loose-knit body of the villagers who have been waging a relentless battle against GRASIM for the last two decades, staged a dharna in front of the factory gates to protest against the poisonous fumes such as sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and chlorine which belch forth from the factory chimneys.</p><p>Said 41-year-old Abdur Rahman, the <i>dhoti</i>-clad secretary and convener of the committee: "Our village is dying. Women faint every day because of the fumes. Almost all of us are suffering from respiratory and heart diseases. Our crops are wilting. Vazhakkad has lost its prosperity. Either the factory must take precautionary measures or we will agitate for its closure."<br><br><b>Stalling Tactics:</b> Sensing the militant mood of Vazhakkad's 24,000 population, GRASIM's balding Joint-President R. N. Saboo announced that he was shutting down the factory's sulphuric acid plant for repairs. In reality this move was made to stall any further agitation, GRASIM is already in deep trouble with the Kerala State Board for Prevention and Control of Water Pollution. </p><p>Only last month after a sustained agitation by the villagers the board slapped a case on GRASIM for discharging its effluent through illegal outlets and dumping it into the river without treating it to the prescribed levels. </p><p>The board found the smelly, blackish and highly toxic effluent discharged by the factory endangered plant and animal life in the river and rendered the water unfit for human consumption. Denying the charge Saboo pleaded: "We are doing the best we can to treat the effluent but the board and the villagers are unsympathetic."'<br><br>Saboo's complaints about the attitude of the villagers and the board are ironic. The factory was set up in 1963 but it has still not taken adequate measures to treat its effluent. When fish started dying soon after the factory was opened, destroying in the process Vazhakkad's traditional livelihood, the villagers launched an agitation. </p><p>The factory hastily agreed to dump its effluents into the sea 20 km away but asked for three years to lay the pipeline necessary for the job. The problem of atmospheric pollution has also been equally serious ever since the factory was started. </p><div class="itemcenter"><iframe scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" width="100%" height="62" awidth="320" aheight="62" amplayout="fixed" src="https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.dev?url=https%3A%2F%2Fakm-img-a-in.tosshub.com%2Fsites%2Findiatoday%2Fbanner%2Fpreferred-source-new.html%3Fv%3D1.014" class="preferred-source-banner" loading="lazy"></iframe></div><style>.preferred-source-banner{  margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;}</style></p><p>As the factory is situated in a valley and Vazhakkad is on hilly ground, smoke from the factory chimneys invariably drifts across the village. This has caused crops to start yellowing and withering away. The cashew and palm trees of the village also get defoliated and hardly bear fruit.<br><br>The problem of water pollution is particularly severe because the Chaliyar is not a very big river. Therefore when large quantities of effluents are discharged into it, they do not get neutralised and their toxicity remains high. This problem becomes even more acute in summer when the level of the river falls, GRASIM adds to the difficulties further by drawing water from the river to run the factory. </p><p>To prevent effluents from getting back into its system it had constructed an earthen bundh across the river just before the spot where it discharges its effluents into the river. When in 1968 the factory had done nothing to treat the effluents the people broke the bundh and demanded the closure of the factory. </p><p>The state Government stepped in and appointed an expert committee which submitted its report in 1972 recommending certain treatment measures. The company again started dragging its feet and did not implement the recommended measures even after the Pollution Control Board came into existence in 1974. </p><p>The same year the state was forced to call a tripartite meeting between the management, the board and the people of Vazhakkad at Ramnilayam in Trichur district. According to the agreement the factory agreed to discharge its treated effluents at Chungapalli, a brackish water stretch of the river, 7 km downstream.<br><br>When in 1979, five years after the Ramnilayam agreement, the factory showed no signs of implementing it another agitation broke out and the state Government ordered GRASIM to shut down till the pipeline was laid. Within six months GRASIM laid the pipeline but it turned out to be a poor job.<br><br><b>Inadequate Measures:</b> While GRASIM now claims that it has spent Rs 2 crore for installing a treatment plant the board says that this is totally inadequate and has asked it to modify the plant. Meanwhile a report that the effluent has a high mercury content is causing alarm among the people. </p><p>Mercury is a highly toxic metal and can cause death if consumed in large quantities. K. T. Vijayamahadevan, a college professor, who is president of the Society for the Protection of the Environment, Kerala (SPEK) which has been supporting Vazhakkad's struggle, warned: "The Government had better make a study of the mercury problem fast or we may have another Minamoto on our hands." (In Minamoto in Kyushu, Japan, hundreds were killed and maimed by a plastic factory's effluents which contained mercury).<br><br>Today another agitation is breaking out in Chungapalli village where GRASIM is discharging its effluents through its 7 km pipeline. Meanwhile the people of Vazhakkad have stepped up their protest against atmospheric pollution. Said Dr G. S. Rajkumar, the village doctor: "Almost every child is suffering from a respiratory disease. Either it is tuberculosis or bronchial asthma. Almost every woman is anaemic and suffers from peptic ulcers which have to be operated upon. Most of the men suffer from heart diseases. I have never come across a village that is so sickly." About 10 families have abandoned their houses on the banks of the river and moved into the interior. </p><p>Said Ahmed Kutty, father of six sons: "All my children are having problems with their lungs and the doctor has advised me to shift from Vazhakkad." Fifty-year-eld Ayesha, another resident of the village, has become as thin as a skeleton in the last few years. She said she had fainted several times after inhaling the smoke and is now afflicted with tuberculosis.<br><br>Asked about the air pollution Saboo replied glibly :"We are conscious of our social obligations. At the same time we cannot adopt uneconomic measures to solve the problems. Nor can we tackle them overnight. The villagers must be patient." Till then the villagers, it appears, must patiently live with the poison that GRASIM throws out into the air and water.<br></p><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Oct 24, 2013</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div></div>

Vazhakkad, a pretty village on the banks of the Chaliyar river in Mallapuram district, Kerala, is slowly dying.

India Today

Pollution: Withering village - India Today

Vazhakkad village in Kerala dies a slow death due to effluence from GRASIM factory

Pollution: Withering village

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Vazhakkad village in Kerala dies a slow death due to effluence from GRASIM factory

Vazhakkad, a pretty village on the banks of the Chaliyar river in Mallapuram district, Kerala, is slowly dying.

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