Cuddalore, 5 March 2007: Tired of government’s inability to stop river pollution SACEM monitors and SIPCOT residents conducted an all-night river vigil on Uppanar yesterday to monitor illegal discharges. The vigil team included all SACEM monitors and two SIPCOT residents who conducted the vigil from 9:30 pm on 4th March 2007 to 5:30 am on 5th March 2007. This initiative comes after failure of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to take action on the complaints of fishermen about illegal discharges into the river Uppanar for more than a year now.
The team monitored the river from the land and water around Pioneer Miyagi as most of the complaints of illegal discharges have been from this unit. The vigil started from the Semmankuppam burial ground south of Pioneer Miyagi and then moved to northern side of the unit after 4 hours. Monitors also recorded a strong dead body odour around the northern side of the unit, the odour was rated at 5. Headache and vomiting sensation were reported as a result of the odour. They also reported muddy smelling discharges from the panchayat canal on the northern side of the unit which they guessed to be sewage discharge.
A detailed report of the vigil has been given to the TNPCB, monitors plan to conduct similar vigils on other units soon.