Author : sacem

Public ire against waste facility in Perundurai

August 23, 2010 C Baranidharan Expressbuzz   An overwhelming opposition to the proposed common hazardous waste facility at the Perundurai SIPCOT industrial estate greeted officials who turned up for a public hearing on July 28.   The atmosphere in the entire town was charged, with posters slamming the project, put up by radical leftist outfits, […]

Is your garam masala safe from mercury?

July 19, 2010 Gokul Chandrasekar Expressbuzz   Paliya tribes living in and around Kodaikanal are allegedly facing health problems attributable to mercury pollution, according to an NGO working with tribals in the region. However, no study has been conducted till date to validate these claims as the tribal group continues to stay away from modern […]

Waiting in vain for compensation

July 19, 2010 Gokul Chandrasekar Expressbuzz   Ruby Martine (80) walks to the graveyard every Wednesday to offer flowers at the grave of her son Christopher Martine, who worked at the Hindustan Lever Limited’s (HLL) erstwhile mercury plant in Kodaikanal. Christopher died in 1997 due to kidney failure at the age of 33 and his […]

Truth is the real victim

July 19, 2010 Gokul Chandrasekar Expressbuzz   Even while the Madras High Court was hearing the prayers of the ex-workers in 2006 and considering setting up of a committee to assess health damages, Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) sought expert opinions from three premier national institutions – Industrial Toxicology Research Centre (ITRC), All India Institute of […]

Tamil Nadu’s ‘Bhopal in waiting’

21 June 2010 Gokul Chandrasekar Express News Service   MORE skeletons have tumbled out of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s (TNPCB) closet relating to its actions on the Kodaikanal mercury leak cleanup, this time in the form of false claims in its status note to the Union environment ministry and specifying cleanup standards that have […]

Unwanted gift of quicksilver to Kodaikanal

21 June 2010 Gokul Chandrasekar Express News Service   THE issue of mercury leak in the eco-sensitive Pambar Shola forest in Kodaikanal from Hindustan Lever’s thermometer factory was first brought to notice in 2001 by factory workers and environmental groups.   The company later admitted on record to have discharged more than 1.3 tons of […]

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