A total of 12 illegal dyeing units were evicted in a drive carried out by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) at Iyangadu and Thattankuttai near Komarapalayam on Tuesday.

AHMEDABAD: Officials of Gujarat Pollution control Board (GPCB) issued immediate closure notice to Spectrum Dyes and Chemicals located at Baleswar of Palsana taluka of Surat District some 20 km off Surat city. This action was taken after the unit management was found guilty of releasing untreated Chemical water directly in to Baleswar creek through a fake pipeline installed by them .

Baleswar Khadi (Creek ) is located some 500 meters off the site of the unit. "We had received a complaint that unit management is releasing the untreated harmful water waste in the creek directly during the night hours.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has caught four illegal dyeing units during raids carried out along the banks of River Noyyal on Thursday evening and Friday. Official sources said the units, located in the hinterlands of Tirupur, were found dyeing the yarns and discharging the effluents generated in the process to drains that lead to River Noyyal.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has detected two illegally operating dyeing units at Lakshmi Nagar and Angeripalayam areas during raids conducted over two days ending on Tuesday.

Both the units were found discharging effluents indiscriminately into the open in violation of the Madras High Court directives asking the dyeing units to adhere to the zero liquid discharge (ZLD) norms in the effluent treatment process.

The practice of washing the dyed fabrics in River Cauvery still remains unchecked in the district, adding more pollution to the river water that is already too dirty and becoming unfit for human consumption.

The units have been carrying out the practice with much impunity and the authorities here have not initiated any serious efforts to deter them. Many units resort to the practice of washing the toxic dyes and dirt from the fabrics in the river as it is much cheaper and it involves less trouble.

The Department of Environment (DoE) yesterday fined a dyeing factory Tk 18 lakh for polluting environment at Dakshin Panishail of Kashimpur in Gazipur.

Persons running the manual dyeing units on the Kaliyanoor Road protested the demolitions stating that the TNPCB spared the bigger units and targeted the manual dyers. TNPCB District Environmental Engineer (DEE) K. Gokuladas who headed the drive, told them that all illegal units would be removed without any bias.

The protestors then guided the TNPCB officials to a unit on a sugarcane field on the Kaliyanoor Road. “It would have been impossible to identify it without the help of the villagers. The unit with three winches was in a concrete building that looked like a house and was locked from outside,” the DEE said.

A total 10 illegal dyeing units that were polluting water bodies and River Cauvery at villages near Pallipalayam in Tiruchengode Taluk, were demolished during a raid that was conducted there on Wednesday.

The eviction drive was jointly organised by officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), TANGEDCO and Police at Aavathipalayam, Manalmedu and Samayasangili near Pallipalayam.

Though the district level coordination committee directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to register cases with the police against the owners of illegal textile processing units and those who rented their land for establishment of such units, not a single case has been filed so far.

The committee, established based on the directions of the Madras High Court, had give clear instructions to the TNPCB authorities a few weeks ago, asking them to file complaints so that the police could initiate criminal action against those running illegal textile processing units and those providing their lands for such units.

Industry waste has asphyxiated the river and destroyed livelihoods, says Joe A Scaria

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