Tamil Nadu   

Plea to constitute monitoring committee

Special Correspondent

VELLORE: The president of the Vellore District Association of Farmers affected by environmental pollution caused by tannery effluents, G. Balaraman, has requested Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi to constitute a monitoring committee to periodically check the level of total dissolved solids (TDS) in the effluents discharged by the Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) set up for the treatment of tannery effluents.

In a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister, Mr. Balaraman said that the establishment of CETPs had not been effective in tackling the pollution problem.

The CETPs had not been able to bring down the TDS to the level of 2100 mg/litre, which is the norm fixed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

Under these circumstances, the Government should constitute a monitoring committee comprising officials of the TNPCB, five farmers' representatives, non-governmental organisations, environmentalists, doctors and lawyers to visit the CETPs once in six months and monitor their functioning, especially with respect to their conforming to the TNPCB norms.

He said that if the claim of the tanneries that effluents discharged into the Palar were fully-treated was true, then the tanneries should recycle the treated water into their process again without discharging it outside.

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