The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has caught 14 small scale dyeing/bleaching units for unauthorised operations during surprise raids conducted in Tirupur knitwear cluster over the last few days ending on Wednesday.
The Union Textiles Ministry has constituted a high-level committee to study the functioning of Arulpuram Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) and to advise the government on technical solutions for ensuring zero liquid discharge in the dyeing process, among other issues.
Farmers demand adequate compensation for the affected at the grievances day meeting
Expressing deep disappointment over the inability of officials to stem the pollution rot plaguing rivers in the district, farmers demanded permanent steps to end pollution in water bodies and sought adequate compensation for affected farmers.
Dyeing hub faces reversal of fortunes, pollutes area
Dressed in a loincloth, a frail-looking 84-year-old AP Kandaswamy, who is a farmer and also the president of the Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, greets us with a glass of water from his well.
The nomenclature of the committee itself had evoked the wrath of the farming community already as it comprised members of the same dyeing fraternity who had been the accused in the case filed by farmers on the pollution in River Noyyal which eventually led to the closure of dyeing units, and had no farmer representatives in it
An illegal garment dyeing unit at Terakanambi village. Even as the dyeing units are being set up in Terakanambi, Dollipura and Lokkanahalli of the district, the district administration and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) are looking the other way.
The panel was formed following crisis in the cluster because of the closure of dyeing units by the Madras High Court for causing pollution to River Noyyal despite the earlier court orders asking the units to follow zero liquid discharge (ZLD) norms strictly.
Farmers in and around Perur have opposed a mineral water bottling plant in Perur village. The farmers, affiliated to the Tamizhaga Vivasayeegal Sangam (farmers' association), also raised the issue with the Collector during the monthly farmers' grievances redress meeting.
