NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Tuesday, June 20 2006
CUDDALORE: The Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation (CDCPO) has sought the setting up of a high-tech computerised pollution monitoring centre at the State Industrial Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) premises here.
In a memorandum to the chairperson of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, the organisation stated that the pollution watch centre must be set up for monitoring ambient air quality and contamination of ground water around the SIPCOT estate where the level of air and water pollution has been on the rise for several years now.
The centre must function without any human interference and should be designed to record the level of pollution round-the-clock.
The centre must be capable of alerting local residents in case of any increase in toxic level in the air.
The government must take action to set up an exclusive TNPCB wing in the complex where chemical and pharmaceutical firms were engaged in storing several tonnes of solid effluent. These were posing threats to local residents. Steps should be taken to remove them.
For the benefit of women and children, the State Government should establish a primary health centre on the SIPCOT premises.
The TNPCB must initiate stringent action against units which were engaged in diverting effluent to the river Uppanar clandestinely.
A number of industrial units were functioning without the permission of the government and many of them were manufacturing products beyond the permissible limit. They were also generating unlicenced products, the CDCPO alleged.