KOCHI: The expert panel from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) submitted its report on the pollution in the Periyar River before the Chennai bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday. The findings of the NEERI report will be crucial in the case filed by Shibu Manuel and others.
The NEERI submitted an exhaustive 128 page report following an order by the NGT in September last year. An expert team headed by Dr Tapas Nandy, chief scientist in the Waste Water Technology Division of the NEERI had visited the Eloor-Edayar industrial belt and collected samples in the last week of October, 2015.
The Nagpur-based NEERI had been directed by the tribunal to collect samples from the premises of Hindustan Insecticides Ltd (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 had also given a detailed terms of reference to the NEERI including observations on the storage of hazardous waste and their visible impacts on the surroundings.
The NEERI is also expected to give a description on the type and morphological features of the zone where the industries discharge treated effluent and sewage.
The tribunal had also laid down industry-specific terms for sampling and analysis.
The National Green Tribunal ordered fresh study in September last year after the Kerala State Pollution Control Board sought to correct an earlier analytical study by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST) and ICAR institution based in Thiruvananthapuram.