Kochi: Now, meat waste to pollute air and water

Kochi: The residents and green activists of Eloor-Edayar region have asked the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to remove the pollutants floating near the Eloor regulator-cum-bridge from the leather and meat processing units. The meat wastes have polluted the air and water in the region, they said.

The officials of the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, who  visited the spot and collected the samples,  said the same will be examined to identify the culprits dumping the wastes in Periyar.  Action will be taken against the guilty, said P.B. Sreelakshmi, PCB engineer. The local people, however, blamed the authorities concerned for their failure to take prompt action against the polluting industries.

A leather processing unit and seven or eight bone-crushing units operate in the area. The wastes from them are regularly dumped into the river, said   O.V. Shabeer, an activist of Jana Jagratha working to save Periyar from pollution. “We don’t have a proper mechanism to monitor the dumping of waste by factories operating legally and illegally,” he said.

The wastes accumulate as the regulator-cum-bridge remains closed due to the fall in water level. According to Shabeer, the wastes will flow to the downstream areas like Kothad, Kadamakkudy and Pizhala when the regulator is opened. “This will only help spread the wastes and pollutants to a larger area,” he said. During high-tide, a portion of the same will come back and even reach Muppathadam, the main pumping station for supplying drinking water to nearly five lakh people, Shabeer said.