HYDERABAD: Environmentalists have raised objections over the location of Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF), the second one in the State, at Damaracherla in Nalgonda district on the eve of the environmental public hearing (EPH). Picking holes in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, they say it has not addressed the community concerns.

The EIA report does not contain full information on the impact of the proposed TSDF operations on the community. There was no reference to groundwater, soil conditions, topography, flora and fauna and the terrain. The report has ignored the existence of a village tank, Gollavanikunta.

They wondered how TSDF could be allowed for a single unit of Deccan Chromates that makes sodium dichromate used in paints and tanning industry. How can it be sustained in the long run, considering the fact that the first TSDF at Dindigul near here remains grossly under-utilised? Given the remote location, they also wonder how it can be monitored. There was no rationale in organising the EPH for the second time when the people have rejected the first one, a year ago.

No clarity on many issues

D. Narasimha Reddy of Citizens Against Pollution, who visited the site on Wednesday, said that there was no clarity on the organisation setting up the plant, the cost and mobilisation of resources. "If it is by Deccan Chormates, it would be a mockery, as the factory has been dumping untreated toxic waste, including the carcinogenic hexavalent chromate (Chromium VI) in the open for the last eight to 10 years of its existence. Will it not amount to legalizing a patently unauthorized operation?" The TSDF site is the place where the people displaced by the Nagarjuna Sagar multipurpose project have been rehabilitated. They have not been given land pattas yet, saying it forms part of a reserve forest. But the authorities had no qualms in approving the site for TSDF in the reserve forest area, he said.

Villagers in the vicinity of the proposed TSDF get their drinking water from underground source only. Even agriculture was dependent on groundwater. "Will it not be risky affair to locate a TSDF," he asked.

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