KOCHI: Environmentalists have alleged that some companies in the Eloor-Edayar belt released large quanity of chemical effluents to the Periyar River on Saturday, a day after an expert team from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) completed collecting samples from the river and the company premises as per an National Green Tribunal (NGT) order.
The river turned a different shade on Saturday morning as some of the companies on the banks of the river released chemical effluents in to the river. The Periyar River had turned red a few days before the visit of the NEERI team, KK Ashkar, the counsel of the petitioner who approached the NGT in the case alleged.
An eleven-member team led by Tapas Nandy, chief scientist in the Waste Water Technology Division of the NEERI had visited and collected samples from the river and from the factory premises last week.
The expert team was here from Tuesday to Friday, collecting samples along with representatives of the companies, Kerala Pollution Control Board officials and the representatives of the petitioners among others.
The sampling follows an order issued by the Chennai Bench of the NGT on September 7, directing the Nagpur-based NEERI to collect samples from the effluent outlets of HIL, Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd, Merchem Limited and Cochin Minerals and Routiles Ltd, which are situated in the Eloor- Edayar industrial belt. The NGT has ordered the NEERI to complete the study within one month, and not to delegate the work to any other agency.