Tamil Nadu - Udhagamandalam   

‘Kamaraj Sagar Dam and Pykara Lake being polluted’

Photo: D. Radhakrishnan

Emphasising conservation: Members of the Nilgiri Ecological and Animal Protection Samiti staging a demonstration opposite the Collectorate in Udhagamandalam on Wednesday. —

Udhagamandalam: Members of the Nilgiri Ecological and Animal Protection Samiti (NEAPS) staged a demonstration opposite the Collectorate here on Wednesday in protest against the pollution of the water contained in the Kamaraj Sagar Dam and the Pykara Lake.

They alleged that owing to the chemicals mixed with the effluents let out by a private company located at Sandynullah, both the dam and the lake were getting polluted.

Pointing out that the residents of many villages were consuming the water from the dam and the lake, they regretted that on account of the pollution that was being caused by the chemicals, many people were being affected by different kinds of maladies.

In addition to this, the demonstrators claimed that fish were dying in large numbers because the creatures were unable to survive in the polluted waters of the dam and lake.

There was a danger to wildlife as well, the demonstrators emphasised.

Since the effluents passed through the forest areas in Pykara, Glenmorgan, Masinagudy and Moyar, they posed a threat to wild animals.

The foul odour emanating from the factory subjected the people residing in Sandynullah and surroundings and passersby to considerable inconvenience.

Addressing the demonstrators, the Joint Secretary, Tamil Nadu Green Movement S.Jayachandran came down hard on the Pollution Control Board (PCB) for its failure to check pollution of water sources in the Nilgiris.

Though the tests carried out by private agencies usually showed that they were polluted, the PCB always maintained that they were not.

He added that judicial intervention would be sought to prevent pollution of Pykara Lake and the Kamaraj Sagar Dam.

Human Rights activists also extended support to the demonstrators over the issue of pollution.

Later in a memorandum submitted to the Collector, the President, NEAPS, D.Kannabiran said that the officials concerned would be held responsible for the consequences of not preventing pollution of the lake and the dam.

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