After drawing flak, pollution control board devises strategy
Solan, April 15, 2014:: The state Pollution Control Board is finally devising a strategy to deal with the situation in the state's industrial hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN). The move comes in the aftermath of flak from NGOs citing lack of timely action to contain air pollution emanating from BBN. Read media story...

Public pressure mounts to check pollution from industrial area in Solan
Solan, Apr 9, 2014 Close to 200 people affected by industrial pollution in Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh industrial area in Himachal Pradesh attended a community meeting organised in Baddi last Saturday. Read media story...

Industrial pollution in Solan: people air concern at hearing
Solan, 07 April 2014: Expressing concern over the failure of the authorities of Himachal State Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board and dawdling approach of industrial houses in following environment laws, several people on Saturday urged the government to initiate the needed corrective measures and take stern action against defaulters to conserve the ecology and environment of Baddi- Barotiwala- Nalagarh industrial belt. Read media story...

Conservation NGOs BNHS and MNS call for the relocation of the proposed Cheyyur Power Plant
Cheyyur, 04 April, 2014: In November 2013, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), along with the Madras Naturalists' Society (MNS), carried out a survey of the waterbirds of Odiyur Lagoon, a wetland near the proposed 4000 MW Cheyyur Power Plant. Read press release...

Cuddalore Residents Organize a Day-long Hunger Strike Against Proposed Textile Park
Cuddalore, 2 April 2014: More than 1400 residents from 25 villages of Cuddalore today participated in a daylong hunger strike opposing the proposed textile park in Periyapattu village of Cuddalore. d stoves in New Delhi, air pollution claimed seven million lives around the world in 2012, according to figures released Tuesday by the World Health Organization. Read more...

Pollution Killed 7 Million People Worldwide in 2012, Report Finds
BEIJING, 23 February 2014: — From taxi tailpipes in Paris to dung-fired stoves in New Delhi, air pollution claimed seven million lives around the world in 2012, according to figures released Tuesday by the World Health Organization. Read media story...

'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...

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...