EPW

Commentary January 15-21, 2000

Cleaning Chaliyar River: Pollution Control or Jobs?

Available EPW on CD 2005

K M Seethi

Many heaved a sigh of relief when the Birla-owned Grasim Industries(GI) at Mavoor, Kerala filed an application before the state government under the Industrial Disputes Act seeking permission to shut down the pulp and staple fibre divisions of the factory with effect from November 30. But they soon realised that GI was stooping only to conquer. It is too early to forget the management’s skilful manipulation of the dramatic turn of events following a series of suicides committed by factory workers when GI was closed down for nearly three and a half years during 1985-88. This time GI has apparently sought to invoke one of the crucial clauses of the notorious accord signed between the state government and the management in 1988 pertaining to the supply of raw materials to the factory in the required quantity and quality. CURRENT Certainly the GI management seeks to hold sway over the state government to release STATISTICS more raw materials at subsidised rates. This comes at a time when the government itself is under pressure to take action against the factory’s pollution, which has caused Macroeconomic Indicators (6 horrendous damage to environment. What is significant is that the management has January 2007) successfully diverted public attention from the very question of industrial pollution which the people of Kerala have been addressing most seriously over a period of time, thereby Foreign Direct Investment - A pushing to the forefront an intricate subject for public debate, that is, the very survival of Fact Sheet 3,000 factory workers and several hundreds who indirectly depend on the industry. It is for this reason that the Chaliyar Action Council (CAC) and other environmentalists, who have been demanding permanent closure of the factory to end the pollution of air and water, believe that the closure application is yet another manipulation by the management to escape paying compensation for the extensive damage to environment caused by effluents discharged into the Chaliyar river. Click Here for Weekly The woes of Chaliyar set in way back in the 1950s when the first EMS ministry of Kerala Email Content Alert signed an agreement with the Birlas to start a pulp factory in Mavoor, about 20 km east of Calicut city on the bank of river Chaliyar. Nobody perhaps thought of the environmental consequences of the rayons factory at that time. As the pulp and fibre divisions started functioning in the 1960s, people living on the banks of Chaliyar were destined to sink into a miasma of perpetual agony and despair. They had put up a sturdy resistance to the continuous pollution of air and water, particularly when the river Chaliyar was increasingly exposed to contamination from the factory. In the 1960s and 1970s local people organised a series of protests seeking immediate redressal. In fact, GI had promised to discharge the effluents directly to the sea through a long pipeline and to dig wells in the affected areas. But these promises were never fulfilled. However, in 1974 the state government called a meeting of the GI management,

the newly constituted Pollution Control Board (PCB) and the people. The Ramanilayam accord, as it emerged from the tripartite meeting, stipulated that the factory should discharge the treated effluents at Chungappalli, nearly 8 km downstream the factory. Several years went by and GI continued to flout the Ramanilayam accord. The situation took a bad turn in 1979 when the local people launched a massive agitation, even destroying a bund erected by the factory for the purpose of taking clean water. Compelled by its own requirement of clean water, the GI had set up a pipeline to Chungappalli. But it again dashed all hopes as the pipelines were unscientifically made, leaking toxic effluents throughout their length. By that time the effluent treatment process had also come to a halt. The frequent leaks continued to contaminate the wells and ponds of the nearby areas and people suffered because there was no public water supply system here. Though the PCB forced the management to repair the pipeline, the effluents continued to leak without any let-up. In 1981, the PCB filed a case against the company for discharging effluents through illegal outlets and pushing them into Chaliyar without proper treatment. It was during this time that the intensity of Grasim pollution was brought to public attention by a number of studies. A study conducted by the University of Calicut, commissioned by the department of science and technology, warned that the pollution of the Chaliyar river caused by GI was much higher than what it appeared to be. It revealed for the first time that the levels of lead, mercury and chromium were much above the tolerance limit in the river. The study pointed out that the chemical oxygen demand (COD) values were higher than the tolerance limit of 250 ppm. A good number of bio-chemical oxygen demand (BOD) values were well above the tolerance limit of 3 ppm. Higher value obtained for lead, which is highly toxic, was 2.613 ppm and it was much higher than the tolerance limit of 0.05 ppm. The values obtained for mercury (highest value 2.810 ppm) were much above the tolerance limit of 0.002 ppm. The study had warned that Vazhakkad, which is in close proximity to GI, would be the worst affected by the hazards of water pollution. In less than a decade and a half, the foreboding of this study had come true when a survey conducted in the three nearby panchayats of GI (Mavoor, Peruvayal and Vazhakkad) brought to light startling information about the spread of fatal illnesses in the entire area. During 1991-95 the number of cancer deaths alone was 206 and several hundreds were undergoing treatment for this. Heart and lung diseases were quite common and they were the prime causes of death (many hundreds) in these panchayats. In Vazhakkad alone, where the population is over 28,000, deadly diseases like cancer and tuberculosis are fast spreading. The deaths caused by cancer, tuberculosis, etc, within the factory were also on the increase during the last few years but these were most often hushed up for reasons of ‘image’ and ‘safety’. A study funded by the ministry of environment and forests also confirmed that there is a alarming increase in the occurrence of cancer in the exposed area. The incidences of chest diseases like tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma, etc, are on the higher side. Human exposure to water pollutants may be prolonged over decades so that even weak carcinogenic stimuli might have material effects. The study undertaken in collaboration with the Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, and the PCB has shown positive correlation between the amounts of certain contaminants and mortality from certain cancers. Compounds of chromium are seen in the effluents from the factory. Certain compounds of chromium predispose to lung cancer. Further, many carcinogens are known to escape into the ambient atmosphere in the course of industrial activity and constitute a potential source of carcinogenicity. The pollutants causing air pollution from the factory are carbon disulphide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide, acid mist, chlorine, etc. Studies conducted by the Regional Cancer Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Calicut district medical officer and a

special team of the Calicut Medical College also confirmed increased incidence of fatal illnesses in the six panchayats surrounding GI. Those who talk about the anxiety and uncertainty of the 3,000 employees of the factory (and several hundreds indirectly depending on GI) seldom address the question of survival of the two lakh people living on the banks of river Chaliyar who were traditionally eking out their livelihood by fishing, sand mining, mussel collection, etc. Chaliyar, one of the longest and worst-polluted rivers of Kerala, has its origin at Nilambur and joins the sea near Beypore. During summer the flow in Chaliyar gets reduced and during high tides the effluents discharged into the river may even reach the Calicut water supply intake point, causing disturbances to public water supply. The well water in these areas also gets contaminated due to the effluents discharged from the factory. The river was everything for the people and they used the water in different stretches of the river for fishing, bathing, drinking, etc. When the factory started functioning, the river water became extremely nauseating and it could not be used even for normal purposes. The rich fish wealth in the river disappeared over the years. The air pollution from the GI has also caused extensive damage to livestock, agriculture and vegetables in the entire area. While the Grasim has been causing widespread damage to the environment and providing excruciating agonies to the two lakh population of the six adjoining panchayats, the forest wealth of Kerala has come down considerably, over years, as a result of the pillage of the forest resources for the benefit of the company. The successive governments in Kerala were lax in protecting the basic rights of the people. The first agreement (1958) stipulated that the government should supply 1.6 lakh tonnes of bamboo and reeds at the rate of Re 1. In 1974 it was increased to 3.6 lakh tonnes at the revised rate of Rs 22.50 per tonne. In less than a decade, almost the entire Nilambur forest vanished. Then the bamboo forests of Wayanad, Kozhicode, Palghat and Nenmara were leased to the GI. The 1988 agreement further revised the quota of eucalyptus, bamboo and reeds which the government was bound to supply at the rate of Rs 250 per tonne. It may be noted that in three decades’ time the state government incurred a colossal loss of hundreds of crores by supplying raw materials to GI at highly subsidised rates. The disparities in the rates of these raw materials as fixed by the state governments of Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Assam should also be noted here. If the rate in Kerala is Rs 250 as contracted for GI, it is well above Rs 1,000 in Maharashtra and Assam. The open market prices are much higher even in Kerala. Thus, the government patronage of GI has resulted not only in the huge loss of material and financial resources, but in the very destruction of the entire valley. The criminal negligence of GI with respect to industrial and environmental safety has been routinely ignored by the state government. For instance, the government failed to prosecute the management for its serious lapses which led to the death of three workers while on duty in June 1995. Experts of the department of factories and boilers (F and B) visited the factory soon after the mishap for ascertaining the causes of the accident. They found that there were many lapses on the part of the GI management and that the accident could have been averted had adequate protective measures been taken. Even the workers deployed for hazardous jobs were not provided with the necessary protective gear. It was reported that in the chamber where the three died there was lethal hydrogen sulphide in the rate of 111 ppm per litre. The F and B experts recommended that steps for prosecution be initiated against GI for criminal negligence. Unfortunately, under pressure from the GI management, the

government directed the F and B against carrying on with the prosecution procedures. Workers recollect several industrial accidents in the past because of sheer negligence on the part of the management and in a majority of the cases no serious action was taken against the company. The severe water and air pollution of Mavoor and its adjoining areas has evoked a cold response from the government so far, in spite of all protests and agitation by the residents and environmentalists. However, the government has been very enthusiastic in appointing one committee after another to ascertain the facts about pollution and measures for remedy. In fact, the Kerala legislative assembly itself had sent three committees to Mavoor and the petitions committee of the Rajya Sabha also sent a team to the affected areas. In 1995 an expert committee was appointed by the state government which submitted its report in January 1996 placing 13 recommendations before the authorities. The government and the GI management, however, sat on the report. In May 1997, the government appointed another committee under the chairmanship of Sen Gupta. The committee submitted its report in August 1998 with 28 recommendations to be implemented immediately. This too remained on paper. Meanwhile, the environmental committee of the state assembly under the chairmanship of A V Thamarakshan insisted that the Sen Gupta Committee recommendations be implemented forthwith. Surprisingly, the government has come out with another ‘Industrial Pollution Standing Advisory Committee’ under A D Damodaran to ascertain ‘fresh and accurate’ evidence of pollution. In fact, the people of Chaliyar have been increasingly agitated over the government’s policy of scuttle and procrastination and GI management’s refractory stance. The local resistance took a decisive turn early this year when the convenor of the CAC, K A Rahiman, who spearheaded the movement for three decades, died of cancer. The relay fast started by CAC on January 26, 1999 evoked widespread support from all parts of Kerala and elsewhere. The council demanded nothing short of a permanent closure of the factory with adequate compensation to be given to the workers and victims of pollution. What followed unfortunately were a series of malicious campaigns against the agitationists. The GI management and BJP saw in the agitation a ‘foreign hand’ and ‘fundamentalist penetration’ to thwart the company, using the argument that it is a Muslim majority area. The trade unions having affiliation with the CPM, CPI, Congress, Muslim League, and the BJP were all united in defending the GI management. In press conferences and public meetings the best votaries of the management were the Grasim trade union leaders who cared nothing for the wilful destruction of the environment by the company. Ironically, the trade unions are increasingly paranoid now even as the GI management has set out to play a deep game by serving closure notice to the state government. The CITU workers union has, for the first time, come out with a statement accusing the management of escaping the responsibility of eliminating the pollution caused by the factory. The left unions generally rejected the Grasim argument that the Mavoor unit had become economically unviable because the government was unable to supply the required quantity of raw materials to the company. They pointed out that the GI had enough stocks to run the factory for the next one year. The state government has apparently turned down the GI notice. Yet, GI seems determined to go for an appeal. While the state government and trade unions seek to avoid an unpleasant scenario, the CAC and other environmental groups demand compensation for the workers and victims of pollution. Even as uncertainty loom large, the two lakh people living on the banks of Chaliyar are aghast to find that their woes are further compounded by the new game plan of the management.