Kerala - Kochi   

Residents demand revamp of pollution panel to save Periyar

Special Correspondent

Convention of people in Eloor-Edayar area adopts People's Charter of Demands

TO SAVE A LIFELINE: People take part in the convention against pollution of the Periyar at Eloor on Sunday.

KOCHI: The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) was at the receiving end at a convention held at Eloor this afternoon to raise local people's voice against chemical contamination of the Periyar by the industrial units in the Eloor-Edayar area.

The `Convention for raising people's rights in the context of Periyar contamination,' organised by the Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samiti, came down heavily on the PCB for failing to check the discharge of hazardous effluents into the river. Most speakers at the meeting — attended by politicians, trade union leaders, legislators and scientists — raised an accusing finger at the PCB, which they said lacked the will, capability and institutional mechanism to say no to the river polluters.

The convention wanted the PCB disbanded and a new PCB consisting of `efficient, committed, and incorruptible' officers, with strong legislative and Government support, set up.

K. Chandran Pillai, MP and CITU leader, called for a total revamp of the PCB, which in his view had degenerated into an `ineffective bureaucracy.' A new PCB with `capability, expertise, sufficient institutional mechanism and above all a fine perspective' needed to be constituted, he said.

Mr. Pillai said an `integrated, comprehensive package' was necessary for checking the contamination and to revive the river. However, contamination could not be contained by the efforts of local environmentalists and non-governmental organisations alone; a political decision was essential. "The solution to the Periyar contamination lies in the political domain," he said. He also wanted the environmentalists and trade unions to work together.

T.K. Ibrahim, chairman of the now-defunct Local Area Environmental Committee (LAEC), which was set up on the direction of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee, said that during its one and a half years of work, the LAEC had found that the PCB had shockingly failed in its primary responsibility of checking pollution. "The PCB had not done even the basic investigations necessary before giving consent to the industrial units to continue to operate," he said. The approvals were made on superficial parameters. Though the LAEC had asked the PCB to revise these parameters, it had yet to do so. The PCB was always eager to justify the polluting units, rather than check the pollution, he alleged. "The PCB has turned out to be a Pollution Justification Board," Mr. Ibrahim commented.

The People's Charter of Demands adopted at the convention called for issuing medical cards to people affected by the Periyar pollution for free medical aid; stoppage of production of DDT and endosulfan by the Hindustan Insecticides Limited; payment of compensation to the affected people by the Centre and the World Health Organisation (WHO), as the Government had set up the HIL on a request by the WHO; relocation of the radio-active materials stacked away underground by the Indian Rare Earths; and the immediate launch of river decontamination process. Local political leaders and trade unions; members of panchayat councils; and, environmental activists spoke at the convention. Kalamssery MLA A.M. Yusuf hoped the September 28 meeting called by the Health Minister would discuss ways to end the pollution of the river. Earlier, V.D. Satheesan, Paravur MLA, opened a telling exhibit of photos on the different aspects of industrial pollution in the Periyar, at the Pattupurackal Temple auditorium. Sainudheen Edayar shot the photos.

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