Ooty: May be the stars of industrial growth are not in favour of the celebrated five decade- old Sterling Bio-tech industry here, formerly known as Protein Products of India(PPI). It is facing closure as the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has already tightened the noose that resulted in a slowdown of its operations for the past two weeks. The PCB snapped power supply to the Sterling Biotech for not complying with the latest pollution control norms.
However, Mr C. Manoharan manager at Sterling Biotech, said that it was just not due to non-compliance of norms but over the time frame fixed by the TNPCB and district administration.
“The TNPCB has asked the Sterling Bio-tech to install the latest zero liquid discharge system for pollution control. In March the TNPCB instructed us to complete the process before the end of June. But, we asked time till next January as importing the system and its installation will take more time. Now, we approached the court on this regard. The court has set up a technical committee to look into this issue. Hopefully, the problems will be solved soon to carry on with its regular production of pharmaceutical gelatin which is used to make capsule and di-basic calcium phosphate that is used in manufacturing poultry feed,” he noted.
Mr. Manoharan added that the factory has always adhered to the pollution control norms prescribed by TNPCB. When it was pointed out to him that some environmentalists are crying foul over the factory’s discharge of effluents into nearby areas affecting the neighbourhood, he said that it is absolutely untrue and fabricated.
Meanwhile, S. Jayachandran, joint secretary of the ‘Tamilnadu Green Movement’, said that a kind of stigma is created that the greens are always against industrial growth. “This is absolutely not true. The greens only want the industries to strictly adhere to the pollution control norms to carry on their routine. We understand that the industries take care of the job opportunities of the locals. But, the industries should run in tune with pollution control norms to pave for sustainable development” he stressed.
