THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Union Minister K V Thomas’ pro-endosulfan speech is just a tip of the iceberg. It shows a smaller part of the Union Government’s policy of making profit by gambling the lives of common people.
A Government of India enterprise itself is producing endosulfan in Kerala for the past three decades though it is not known much to others.
The Government’s indifferent attitude towards the endosulfan-hit State is reflected in the factory standing tall at Udyogamandal in Kochi.
With an excuse that endosulfan ban has limited its use, Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL), a Government of India enterprise, under Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has been producing the deadly chemical in the very same State where more than 2,000 families are victims of aerial spraying of the deadly chemical at Government-owned plantation.
Originally started in 1957, Endosulfan Technical Plant was put up in HIL in 1980. The production capacity of the plant is 1,600 MT per annum, whereas the overall production in the world is around 12,800 MT per annum. Apart from the plant in Kochi, HIL has plants in Punjab and Maharashtra.
K K Dhar, deputy general manager of HIL, Kochi, said that endosulfan is being produced in the company. “There is no ban on production. There is no directive from Government regarding it. We strictly prohibit sale of endosulfan within the State. It is being used in other States. We are concentrating more on exports,” he said.
Endosulfan is mainly exported to Europe, South America, Gulf and South East Asia and South Africa.