THREAT TO MARINE LIFE?
Eco group opposes power plant, captive port in Cuddalore
Cuddalore, 8 February, 2010: The SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors (SACEM), a non-government forum, has raised strong objection to the proposed 3,600-MW thermal power plant, captive port and desalination plant in Cuddalore and sought to highlight several lacunae in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) done by the Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited. Read media story...

Plea to employ locals in private power project at Pudhukuppam
CUDDALORE, 8 February, 2010: In a public hearing held on Friday, a demand was made to employ local people in the proposed 3,600-MW private power project to be set up in Pudhukuppam coastal village in Parangipettai block. Collector P. Seetharaman and officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board participated. Read media story...

Fishes found dead along Cuddalore coastline
CUDDALORE, 2 February 2010: The six-km coastal stretch from Chithiraipettai to Rasapettai, near here, was found littered with dead fishes on Monday evening. Read media story...

Chemplast Coalyard: Illegal and Polluting -- Residents Send Delegation to TNPCB
Mettur, 1 February, 2010 -- An illegal coal yard, set up without the statutory Consent to Establish by Chemplast Sanmar, is now the cause of coal dust pollution in the residential area surrounding the yard, according to Mettur Padhukaappu Iyakkam (Mettur Protection Organisation) Thangamapuripatnam branch. Read more...

Gas leak at Chemplast Plant III ; 14 people injured
Mettur, 31 January 2010: A gas leak was reported from Plant III of Chemplast Sanmar in Mettur at about 1 pm yesterday. According to the sources about 14 people from Mottur, Karungakaradu block located on the backside of Plant III were hospitalised at the General Hospital after being exposed to the gas. People reported symptoms of nausea, eye burning and vomiting. Read more...

Acid leak in Chemplast PVC Plant injures 4 workers
Cuddalore, 30 January 2010: Four contract workers were injured in an acid leak at the Chemplast Sanmar PVC plant in Cuddalore. According to sources, the accident took place inside the factory due to a leak in the sulphuric acid pump at about 11.20 pm on 24th January 2010. Read more...

SACEM demands community involvement in environmental action plan for Cuddalore
Cuddalore, 19 January 2010: SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitors (SACEM) has welcomed the center's decision for temporary restrictions on new industrial projects in Cuddalore and demanded that the community should be involved in all action plans for environmental remediation. Read more...

Poison in the air

ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR
in Cuddalore
Frontline
The Hindu
04 June, 2005

Poisonous gases released into the air by some chemical units in the SIPCOT industrial estate in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, continue to endanger the lives and livelihoods of people in a number of villages in the absence of government action.

At the SIPCOT industrial estate in Cuddalore. Gases released by chemical units have severely affected the air quality in the area.

VILLAGES in the industrial area on the outskirts of Cuddalore town in Tamil Nadu are increasingly being identified more by pungent smells than their names - smells of rotten cabbage, burnt rubber, rotten egg, neem, detergent, human excreta, decomposing bodies, mosquito coils, rotting bones, decaying chikoo fruit, and nail polish. The smells come from toxic chemical compounds that are manufactured or released as effluents by the 18 companies in the industrial area and which have been damaging the environment and the health of more than 20,000 people in about 20 villages. Read more...