KOCHI: At a time when the state is clamouring for a blanket ban on controversial pesticide endosulfan, the central public sector undertaking Hindustan Insecticides Limited (HIL) at Eloor in Ernakulam district has been found dumping sludge containing endosulfan chemicals in a lagoon, the arteries of which are linked to various rivers.
HIL is the major manufacturer and exporter of endosulfan in the country. A team of officials from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB), who conducted an inspection on the site on April 18, 2011, found that the company had not taken any "adequate or earnest measures" for removing the sludge from the lagoon for the last one year.
PCB chairman K Sajeevan told Express that in spite of repeated notices, the company had failed to close the lagoon after shifting the entire quantity of hazardous waste dumped in it.
"We had earlier directed them to shift the sludge to common treatment, storage and disposal facility at Ambalamedu.
As the company had failed to do so we have issued a showcause notice to the company," he said. PCB Chief Environmental Engineer M S Mythili said the company had been directed to transfer the sludge from the lagoon before April 30, 2010. "The company has been putting forward various reasons for its failure in shifting the sludge from the lagoon. We have directed them to remove the sludge before the onset of monsoon. If it is not removed before the monsoon, the entire area may get polluted," she added.
According to the showcause notice issued by the PCB, the company has violated the provisions under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution ) Act, 1974 and the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. ENS