KOCHI: It was just 4 pm in the evening and rain had begun to drizzle. Very soon smoke began to settle down and the area got covered in a dense smog. In a matter of minutes it became very hard to see the person standing beside. Welcome to Eloor-Edayar industrial area, one of the most polluted regions in the state. The area stands 24th in comprehensive environmental pollution index which was prepared jointly by the Central and state pollution control boards and IIT Delhi in January 13, 2010, by studying 75 critically polluted industrial clusters in the country. Eloor is clearly an example of what happens when unscientific manner of industrialisation takes place in an area.
The dense smoke and the foul smell choke the 8,514 families living in Eloor municipality.
“Eloor-Edayar region has been in the cusp of pollution for decades. Of the total area of the municipality, 60 per cent is occupied by industrial units. Due to this, pollution is a normal thing in the area. For the past four months, however, there has been an increase in smoke and a very irritating odour emanates from the area. The smoke is denser during the evenings and the situation worsens when it rains. By the time its mid-night foul smell engulfs the people living here. The residents here are unable to zero in on the culprit as they are surrounded by industries both large and small.
Neither the government machinery nor the local authorities is ready to resolve the issue,” said Eloor Gopinath, general secretary, Residents Associations Co-ordination Council, Ernakulam.Eloor-Edayar industrial cluster houses 282 industries. Of these FACT, IRE, TCC, HIL, Binani Zinc, CMRL, Sree Sakthi Paper Mills, Sud-Chemie and Merchem are the large companies and the rest are smaller.
“Pollution has become a feature of Eloor. Unfortunately, we have been forced to lead this life. The pollution control board is doing nothing. Even though the air, water and land pollution is severe here, the residents can’t leave the place as a majority of them don’t have strong financial setup. Apart from that even if the land at Eloor is sold we will not be able to get enough money to buy land elsewhere. As a result, we find ourselves to be between the devil and the deep sea,” said Zakir Hussain, general convenor, Periyar Malineekarana Virudha Samithi. “A Monitoring Committee set up by the Supreme Court appointed in 2004-05, directed the companies to draw up the mass balance (the total amount of raw materials used, total production and waste). But the companies have not done this so far. Also the companies had been directed to achieve zero discharge by 2008. Even after six years this has not happened. There has been no follow-up action from the part of Pollution Control Board and also the approach is unscientific,” said Purushan Eloor, environmentalist and an Eloor native. P K Suresh, Development Standing Committee chairman, Eloor municipality, said the administration is doing their part to control the pollution in the area.