THOOTHUKUDI: The district administration has recommended the member secretary of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) shut down three seafood preprocessing units that were found releasing untreated trade effluent into the adjacent Uppar Odai, according to the inspection report accessed by TNIE.
Following a report published in TNIE, Thoothukudi MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi inspected the Uppar Odai that turned pink after the untreated effluent was released into it by the seafood preprocessing units.
The action taken report submitted by the District Environmental Engineer S Sathiaraj revealed the names of three preprocessing units, namely King Aqua plant, Nisha Sea Foods, Lifaa Seafood Exports, and SRK Sea Foods situated along the Uppar Odai near the Gomezpuram Periyapalam Bridge. These units, which fall under the orange category of industries, engage in peeling, de-veining, and washing prawns before being dispatched.
Of them, three units except Lifaa Seafood Exports had not renewed the mandatory Consent To Operate (CTO) from TNPCB, and did not have an effluent treatment plant (ETP) to treat the liquid waste generated by the unit.
It was also revealed that the three units SRK Sea Foods, Nisha Sea Foods, and King Aqua plant only had a collection tank, and had been processing 1.5 TPD (Tonnes Per Day), 3 TPD, and 10 TPD of prawns respectively, and discharging 2.5 KLD (Kilolitre Per Day), 3 KLD and 10 KLD respectively into the Uppar Odai that flows into the Gulf of Mannar.
Though the TNPCB had issued a Show Cause Notice to the erring units on December 16, the operators of the three units had not responded yet. Despite promising to install the ETP with an RO plant during a personal hearing held on January 13, they neither applied for the CTO nor took steps to install the ETP and RO plants to treat the effluent, the report said.
Stating that the untreated trade effluent discharged by the preprocessing units had turned the water of the Odai pink, the inspection report recommended the closure of the units under section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and section 31A of Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and the disconnection power supply.
Speaking to TNIE on conditions of anonymity, a senior TNPCB official said the preprocessing units shut down the units and ceased production immediately following instructions from parliamentarian Kanimozhi Karunanidhi and Collector Dr K Senthil Raj. The erring units will get the CTO only after installing the mandatory ETP and RO plant and ensuring compliance with the pollution control norms, he added.