The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Greenpeace bid to make Periyar an election issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 23, 2004

Kerala

Kerala - Kochi

Greenpeace bid to make Periyar an election issue

By Our Special Correspondent

KOCHI, APRIL 22. Greenpeace India is hitting the campaign trail in Ernakulam seeking a vote for saving the river, Periyar, which it says is being poisoned to death by the scores of chemical industries located in the Eloor-Edayar industrial belt.

Greenpeace, known for its high-voltage campaigns to save the environment, is building pressure on political parties and candidates to speak up for the Periyar. Its activists, with support from local environmental groups, are keen on getting a commitment from the election candidates on saving this largest river of Kerala from the highly toxic industrial effluents let out by the chemical industries and the sand-miners.

Sanjiv Gopal, Greenpeace's Toxics Campaigner, and other functionaries are camping in the constituency to formulate strategies to make protection of the Periyar a political issue. Novel methods are being planned to highlight the sad plight of the river. Greenpeace is planning to hold a face-to-face with the candidates. The candidates would be urged to answer questions by the youth, college students and those affected by the pollution in the river.

"We will just provide a forum where the people, especially youth, can put questions about their environment to their candidates," he told The Hindu . The group is asking all the major parties to spell out their standpoints on saving the river.

Mr. Gopal compares Eloor to Bhopal, which had lost thousands of lives in the world's worst chemical disaster two decades back. Both the waters and air of Eloor have been turned toxic by the 247 industries, 106 of them chemical factories, in the area, he says. The effluents let out by these industries into the Periyar make the river one of the most contaminated in the world. Greenpeace has identified Eloor as one of the 26 toxic hotspots in the world, thus highlighting the current status of the river.

Greenpeace, which has been involved in efforts to save the Periyar for close to five years, has conducted a series of studies on the river as well as on Eloor. A health status study of Eloor showed that the inhabitants are more prone to cancer, lung ailments and skin diseases than in other parts of the State. This, the group argues, is the outcome of the high toxic content in the air and water caused by the industries. The River Keeper appointed by the group, regularly collects water samples from different parts of the river and chemically analyses them.

Mr.Gopal pointed out that most of the industries in the Eloor-Edayar belt use outdated production technologies. Very few have functioning effluent-treatment mechanism. "In this 21st century when non-polluting technologies are available aplenty, why should the people of Eloor suffer?" he queried. He said the protection of the Periyar should be a key political issue and be debated during electioneering. The politicians in Kerala are yet to realise the importance of protecting the Periyar, he regretted.

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