Kerala - Kochi   

Periyar turns red again

KOCHI: As the Periyar turned red for the sixth consecutive day on Thursday, the Assembly Committee on Environment has scheduled a hearing on the issue for January 3 in Thiruvananthapuram.

The committee, headed by Ollur MLA Rajaji Mathew Thomas, asked top officials of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) to explain why the Periyar changed colour and what caused it. Officials of the Industries Department and the Ernakulam district administration were summoned to the hearing, Paravur MLA V.D. Satheesan, who is a member of the committee, told The Hindu.

Mr. Satheesan said the committee viewed the discolouration very seriously and that was why it scheduled a hearing so soon. The committee was not happy with the way the PCB had handled such a crucial issue. He said the PCB chairman’s statement that it was the tidal waves that caused the discolouration was `prejudiced’ and `mysterious.’ “When such prejudiced views are expressed by top officials, it is natural for the people to suspect that the officials are trying to protect the polluters,” he said.

Meanwhile, local residents and NGO activists reported that discolouration was very heavy on Thursday. It started by 11.30 a.m. and continued late into the afternoon. It was for the sixth day that the water got discoloured. Discolouration started on Saturday morning, but for the next two days the colour was weak, but picked up strength on Tuesday.

A PCB official said that iron content in the water was now substantial. They could not spot the source or cause of the discolouration. Top PCB officials had been alerted and they were awaiting further orders as to what course of action should be taken.

Purushan Eloor, convener of the Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithi, wanted the government to appoint an independent scientists’ group to investigate the discolouration and track down the polluting factories. He alleged that the PCB was either totally incompetent or unwilling to tackle the issue.

He said the river first started to change colour in 1998. “Over the past 10 years, the PCB has not been able to find out the reason for the discolouration.” He said the PCB should be kept out of the scene and an independent agency or group of competent, honest and committed scientists be given the tasked of investigation.

S. Seetharaman, secretary of the Environmental Protection Forum, said the cause for the discolouration was the dumping of ferrous chloride by a particular factory. This waste, when mixed with water turned into ferrous hydroxide or ferric chloride, thus giving reddish yellow or yellowish colour to the water. Sometimes, these effluents, after complex chemical process taking place while in water with water, turned the water blue or red.

However, Prof. Seetharaman said, even if the water was colourless did not mean that it is not contaminated.

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