Cheyyur Project will harm local hydrology, study finds
14 July, 2014: The Cheyyur power project will damage water reserves, harm agriculture and interfere with local drainage routes leading to increased flooding in some areas and reduced rain water flow to vital irrigation tanks, according to a study titled "Hydrological Implications of the 4000 MW coal-fired Ultra Mega Power Project in Cheyyur, Tamil Nadu. Read press release...

Fire in SIPCOT unit, none injured
SIPCOT, 05 July 2014 A fire that broke out in a chemical unit in the SIPCOT Industrial Estate here caused panic among residents in the surrounding villages on Thursday. Read media story...

Fire in Pandian Chemicals; Major disaster averted
Cuddalore, 4 July 2013: A fire broke out in in Pandiyan Chemicals at semmankuppam village in SIPCOT Cuddalore today at about 12.30 pm. According to the eye witnesses approximately at 12.20 pm heavy smoke was noticed from the building near the boiler inside the plant premises. Read more...

Relocate Cheyyur UMPP: Eminent Scientists Tell Government
30 June, 2014 Thirty-nine scientists, including former vice-chairman of the National Knowledge Commission Padma Bhushan Prof. Pushp M. Bhargava, have urged the Tamil Nadu and Central governments to relocate the 4000 MW Cheyyur UMPP considering the ecologically sensitive nature of the current location. Read press release...

Eight hurt in SIPCOT mishap
28 June 2014 Eight persons sustained burns when a steam pipeline in the SIPCOT Industrial Estate here developed a snag on Thursday. The injured include three employees and five contract workers. Read media story...

Accident in Tagros; 8 workers injured
Cuddalore, 27 June 2014: At least 8 workers of Tagors Chemical were injured when a hot-water pipeline they were repairing burst. Read more...

Pvt power developers want bidding for UMPPs to be halted
June 17, 2014 Association of Power Producers, a body representing private electricity generation companies, has asked the Power Ministry to halt the bidding process for two proposed 4,000 MW ultra mega power projects in Tamil Nadu and Odisha, saying the projects are not economically viable. Read more...

Himachal cracks down on industrial pollution
Shimla, June 11, 2014: The Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board has introduced additional heavy metal parameters, periodic checking of air quality and ordered disconnection of power supply at 41 erring industrial units in the state’s biggest industrial belt of Baddi-Barotiwala and Nalagarh. 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...