FACT gets show cause for "polluting" Periyar

According to Molly George, senior environmental engineer, dead fish were found only at the effluent outlet of FACT. This led to the suspicion that FACT had released untreated effluents into the river, possibly presuming that the ongoing rain would nuetralise the pollution content of the effluent. The doubts further gained ground when it was found that the effluent level in FACT’s storage well had come down.

Meanwhile, the Central Marine Fisheries Research (CMFRI), which had also conducted a study following the death of fishes, is expected to submit its report in a couple ofdays.

According to CMFRI sources, pollution in the river is not a new development. "Factories have been polluting the Periyar for the last two decades." "BASELESS": The joint action council of the trade unions of the Petrochemicals Division of FACT has termed the conclusion of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board that the effluents which caused massive death of fish in the Periyar tributaries had come from the division as "baseless and without any scientific backing."

It demanded a detailed scientific probe to identify the real culprits. The council alleged that the Board had put the blame on FACT to save some units in the Eloor industrial belt which had not maintained pollution control measures.

The decision to point an accusing finger at FACT, when cases regarding pollution from nearby industrial units are in the court, provokes suspicion, according to the unions. The Board should have tested the samples of dead fish to identify the toxicant that caused the death.

It has been proved that thewater samples taken from Edamula tributary, where the Petrochemical Division is situated, did not show any trace of pollutants. Instead, the death of fish has been reported near Varapuzha, Kadamakudy, Vaduthala and Cheranalloor, the council said.