Kerala   

Endosulfan: Chief Minister seeks information on deaths

Roy Mathew

Department says no deaths on account of the pesticide

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan is inquiring into reports that the Agriculture Department continued to take the stand that no deaths had occurred on account of Endosulfan in the State after his Government came to power.

The Chief Minister is understood to have sought information from non-governmental sources on the number of deaths. He is also examining how the Agriculture Department came to the conclusion that no one died of Endosulfan poisoning. (This was stated by Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran in the Assembly.)

In the recent past, three deaths in Kasaragod district were attributed to Endosulfan. Studies have pointed to a link between the pesticide and the health problems of thousands of people in about 15 panchayats of the district. However, the Agriculture Department has been denying any such link. In fact, Agriculture Director Jyothi Lal signed the Mayee Committee report in December 2004, which said that no link had been established between use of Endosulfan in the estates of the Plantation Corporation of Kerala and health problems reported in the Padre village.

If one went by the official publications of the previous Government, this was against the official policy and a Cabinet decision of the Government. The Cabinet had decided to urge the Centre to ban the use of the pesticide in the State. The then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had told a press conference in Kasaragod on December 23, 2004 that the Government would call for rejection of the O.P. Dubey Committee report on Endosulfan which was being examined by the Mayee Committee. The same message was also conveyed to the people during his interactions with them.

The Director signed the Mayee Committee report without recording any dissent over the recommendations of the Dubey Committee just a week before the press conference. Whether Mr. Chandy was kept in the dark about that is not known.

The Mayee Committee's conclusion was that it had found sufficient reasons to support the recommendations of the Dubey Committee. Meanwhile, information obtained by The Hindu under the Right to Information Act shows that the Plantation Corporation continued to use weedicides and herbicides even after it discontinued aerial spraying of endosulfan in 2001.

Nearly 13,600 litres of weedicides/herbicides was purchased and most of it was used by the corporation between 2002 and 2005, when the corporation was trying for organic certification for its produce, cashew. It spent Rs.27.81 lakhs for buying the weedicides and herbicides. It is yet to disclose the type of weedicides and herbicides used.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Kerala files plea against interim order on self-financing Act
Kerala Cabinet decides to file review petition
SFI protest turns violent
Cabinet decides to file review petition on trawling
Vizhinjam: State may go in for fresh bids
Endosulfan: Chief Minister seeks information on deaths
In harmony with the `vichitra veena'
Sathyan cremated with State honours
Cabinet postings
Briefly

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu