'The coal scourge
Cheyyur, 23 February 2014: Coal is a widely used but fast depleting energy resource. The extensive land degradation that coal mining involves, the widespread loss of livelihoods and toxic pollution that coal-based projects cause and the long-term adverse impact of burning coal on the global climate have raised serious concerns worldwide. Read key note address...

'Usable Coal to be Over in 15 yrs'
CHENNAI, 23 February 2014: Despite India's perceived abundance in coal reserves, usable coal will not last beyond 15 years, going by the rate at which it is being consumed in the country, warned former Union power secretary E A S Sarma here on Saturday. Read media story...

Women won't marry men living near coal plants
CHENNAI, 22 February 2014: Whether it is Neyveli in TN or Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, the story is the same. Read media story...

Vedal farmers say No to Cheyyur Power Plant
Cheyyur, 29 January, 2014: More than 200 farmers from Vedal in Cheyyur taluka attended a hearing called for by the District Collector of Kanchipuram on 28 January, and unanimously conveyed their decision against land acquisition of their farmlands for setting up the 4000MW power plant. Read press release...

64,000MW can be recovered by plugging electricity leaks
PUNE, 18 January, 2014 -- More than 64,000 MW, nearly 30 percent of India's installed electricity generation capacity of 225000, is lost in inefficiency and leakages, according to Nityanand Jayaraman, a member of the Chennai Solidarity Group for Koodankulam Struggle. Read press release...

Cuddalore Residents Protest SIMA Textile Park; Send 10,000 Post Cards in Opposition to the Chief Minister
Cuddalore, 10 January 2014: Around 400 residents for more than 20 villages around proposed SIMA Textile Park today protested near the office of the District Collector opposing the proposal to set up a textile park near their villages. Read more..

District Officials threaten Vilambur Villagers over Cheyyur Power Project
Cheyyur taluk, 3 January, 2014: Revenue officials threatened land-owners in Vilambur, Cheyyur taluk, with police action for blocking unidentified Hindi-speaking surveyors from entering their farms and orchards with survey equipment. Read press release...

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...