CHENNAI: For the residents of Tondiarpet, it has been blow upon blow. In 2012 a Bharat Petroleum Company Limited (BPCL) oil leak contaminated the soil in some part of North Chennai locality. Now Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) works in the same site have imperilled the clean up, that only started in 2016, by reportedly damaging remediation pipelines.
CMRL has started earth excavation for an underground station, coming up along Tiruvottriyur High Road. The excavation is being carried out on a site marked as contaminated with a soil vapour extraction (SVE) system installed by US-based Stratus Environmental Inc operating feet away. Official sources said there are 50 wells in the contaminated area, of which 15 are remediation wells.
As per earmarking of proposed metro works, four vapour extraction wells, six air sparging wells and three monitoring wells were closed. Since CMRL work commenced, most of the pipelines connecting remediation wells were damaged, crippling restoration. Residents say that this has set back a process that already began only four years after the leak.
As part of earth excavation for the underground station in Tondiarpet, the Chennai Metro Rail (CMRL) workers have dug up to 10 metres deep. Tonnes of contaminated soilare being excavated and tankers of ‘oily’ water are being pumped out. Even as official sources say that remediation pipelines have been damaged in the process, a senior Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board official said Stratus had submitted a proposal to BPCL for complete re-routing of pipelines.
A Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) status report before the National Green Tribunal too had said it had asked CMRL, BPCL and Stratus to relocate the pipelines of SVE system. Meanwhile, residents are concerned as to whether the excavated contaminated soil and water is disposed of scientifically. When Express visited the excavation area, a sub-contractor claimed there was no visible contamination noted. However, they didn’t allow this reporter to collect a water sample. CMRL site manager Balasubramanian also claimed that there was no contamination and there was no big damage done to remediation pipelines.