KASARGOD: Despite the global ban on endosulfan, the pesticide is still being applied by individual farmers in endosulfan-affected villages in the district by smuggling it through cross-border transportation.
What is more surprising is that the pesticide is clandestinely used by farmers belonging to even endosulfan-affected families. For instance, in a remote village in Enmakje grama panchayat, an endosulfan victim, aged 43 who possesses the bio-metric card which enables the victim’s families to seek advanced treatment, is still using the killer pesticide.
The victim’s house is surrounded by plantation of mixed crops. But the pesticide still being used in the household plantation is a guarded secret.
A 48-year-old man lies on the varanda of his house in Swarga swarming with flies. His mother sits nearby and the elder sister of the victim working as a teacher is the sole bread winner of the family. But an anti-endosulfan campaigner in the village said that he was not a victim of endosulfan though his name is in the list.
“He fell from the coconut tree injuring himself when he was young,” he said.
“We get endosulfan from Sullia by smuggling it through the inter-state border,” said Themmappa Poojari, a farmer.
The pesticide is brought as headload or by jeeps.“I use endosulfan in my paddy fields,” said Ahammed, a farmer in Ethadka. “My two cows had died of poisoning after it ate grass in the field, but I do not allow my cattle to stray into the fields now,” he added.
The police said that it was impossible to stop cross-border transportation of pesticide since there are several pathways criss-crossing the border. The police cannot watch these porous pathways, said civil police officers of Badiadka station.
The fierce campaign in the media against endosulfan does not seem to have influenced the farmers. Despite the ban imposed by the state government for the past ten years, the farmers still prefer endosulfan, said the local people.
Anti-endosulfan agitation was concentrated in towns where self-styled environmental activists conducted various modes of agitation. The strident campaign has not reached the affected villages. The villages mostly read Kannada newspapers and watch the Kannada T V which are not as strident in anti-endosulfan campaign.