The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Pollution takes heavy toll of farmland

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version


=

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Pollution takes heavy toll of farmland

Staff Reporter

Pollutants being released into soil by healthcare company, allege villagers

–Photo: Mohd. Arif

Crop in jeopardy: A farmer of Digwal village, Mohd. Ali, showing polluted water gushing out of the borewell in his farm.

Digwal (Medak Dt.): On November 3, two farmers - Varaprasad and Mohd Ali - belonging to this village climbed a cell-phone tower and threatened to commit suicide. The reason was the loss of their crop due to groundwater pollution in their farmland.

The situation was so pathetic that the lands had become irreparable. In the past too, Ali tried to commit suicide but was prevented by family members.

“How long can we prevent is the question as losing heavily in the field has become part of our life now. The problem is that year after year our crop yield is declining,” says Kasim Ali, father of Mohd. Ali, showing the polluted water gushing out of the borewell.

Sharp drop in crop yield

“An extent of about 3,000 acres of the existing 4,000 acres of agricultural land in the village has become polluted. We are getting crop yield of just 30 per cent of what actually can be harvested due to the pollutants released by a healthcare company,” village sarpanch P. Ramalinga Reddy alleged. He also alleged that polluted material was being flushed by the company into the ground by using borewells.

All the 14 borewells that were dug in the village have become polluted and the villagers are forced to fetch water from a distance of five kilometres.

It is believed that potato crop, after a certain height, would lose life and fall aside, while ginger would hardly be of any use as it would give a foul smell.

However, it is only the sugarcane that is still able to resist the pollution, but no one knows for how long, as the severity of pollution is progressively increasing by the day.

Burning sensation

“The pollution has started after four years of the establishment of the industry and one of our staff members also complained about the burning sensation in his hands when he collected samples of water in the village,” a senior official in the district administration, who did not want to be quoted, observed.

“We are fighting this issue since eight years by complaining to the MRO, RDO and Collector but nothing has happened. Farmers are asking for an annual compensation for the fields as they cannot continue farming," said Mr Ramalinga Reddy.

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

Andhra Pradesh