Mobile unit set up to check pollution at Kanjikode

Palakkad: A mobile unit to keep in check the polluting industrial units started functioning at Kanjikode here on Thursday to address concerns about the alleged increase in cancer patients. Former chief minister V. S. Achuthanandan and pollution control minister K. K. Shailaja were present at the inaugural function. The unit will go around the industrial area to check the air pollution from collected samples.

“If the units have exceeded pollution levels, first a warning will be issued, and after that, if they fail to correct, they will be closed,” the minister said. Mr Achuthanandan, the local legislator who heads the Administrative Reforms Commission, said the most effective way to contain pollution was switching over to fully electrical devices for checking it. Two experts who conducted a study in Kanjikode had recommended for around-the-clock assessment, and that was why the mobile van.