CHENNAI: Forty-three-year-old S Kumaresan, who belongs to the fishing community in Ennore, lost one of his three sons five years ago to bone cancer. “My eldest son, aged 23, shows signs of intellectual disability,” he says.
Kumaresan, like many Ennore residents, attributes these health issues to mass industrialisation in the area, which has 34 large petrochemical facilities that fall under red-category industries under pollution index score. Ahead of the public hearing scheduled in Ernavur on Friday for the proposed coal-fired Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS), residents urged the government to take note of the rising air pollution and its effect on children. They highlighted the need for concrete studies to assess the health impact.
A woman, whose family was among those affected due to 67.63-tonne ammonia leak at Coromandel International Limited’s fertiliser plant in Ennore last December, said, “My seven-year-old daughter coughs constantly now, and the frequency of my children getting sick has increased.”
Blaming successive governments for the unbridled industrial growth in close proximity to residential areas, Kumaresan said turning a blind eye now would further aggravate the plight of families.
The 2022 report of the expert committee formed for assessing damage due to fly ash in Ennore, chaired by retired IAS official Santha Sheela Nair, citing an earlier community-based study, said, “Residents face severe respiratory, dermatological, gastrointestinal, and mental health disorders. Children with congenital deformities were noticed”.
A study by Health Energy Initiative, Save Ennore Creek Campaign and the School of Public Health of SRM Institute of Science and Technology in 2022 found that 63% of 207 children surveyed in Ennore experienced respiratory problems in the month preceding the survey.
Dr Sundeep Salvi, Director of Pulmocare Research and Education (PURE) Foundation, said the impact of air pollution on children (especially those in preschool) is higher because they are vulnerable, have high sensitivity, and breathe more air than adults. He added that there is evidence to show that exposure to these pollutants impact their brain function, especially their reasoning, logical and mathematical skills.
Dr Khaiwal Ravindra, professor of environmental health at PGIMER Department of Community Medicine & School of Public Health, said, “A thorough epidemiological study has to be conducted around the thermal power plant to better understand the public health concerns.”
Citing reports commissioned by the National Green Tribunal and a few other reports, the Environment and Child Health subspecialty Chapter of the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, in a letter sent last week to officials, stated, “These findings highlight the unsuitability of Ennore as a site for an additional coal-fired thermal power plant”.