cuddalore online information

– As reported by Nityanand Jayaraman

The day stated as usual, two cycles broke down and had to be loaded onto the car and sent to Semankuppam for repairs. The trip to Semankuppam was excellent we were in the right time for pamphleteering, it was morning time and people were either at bus stops leaving for work or having their morning tea.

Murali and Madesh from Mettur were on a pamphleteering spree and were risking their lives to make sure everyone in sight got one. Murali’s mother Dhanabagyam is an ex-worker of the Chemplast factory in Mettur and is suffering from uterine cancer and has had absolutely no help from the company. Murali’s son Samivel was exposed to a deadly chlorine gas leak when he was just 20 days old, now he has to depend on a high dose of medication for the rest of his life.

Whats Smelling

After breakfast at Pudiyankuppam we passed by the Chemplast site where construction was on at full swing. We had to take a bathroom break on the site to honor all the people who had made Chemplast a reality in Cuddalore. We could smell SPICs shit odour already though we were 3 kms away from the factory so we decided to travel to the source of the smell which brought us to Eachangadu where SPIC is situated. From Eachangadu we went behind the SPIC factory and we were in for a really nasty surprise. The smell here was so intense that all of us began suffocating and gasping for air. The monitors have a system of rating these odours on a scale of 1 to 10 based on their intensity. We gave the odour an 8 but the monitors said that this was only a 5, an 8 would be much worse than this.

Meeting with the MLA

At 12:15 we headed for the town to meet with the local MLA Iyyappan at 12:45pm. The wind in SIPCOT was gusty and against us but we had to cycle like crazy to make it in time for the meeting. The meeting with the MLA was really explosive. Madesh from Mettur spoke about Chemplast and its impact on Mettur’s agriculture, water and economy all of which are now destroyed. After a patient hearing the MLA began with his spiel and said “the company claims that all these allegations are motivated and untrue, there are so many engineers working in this company and going all offensive against just one company is not the right way to go about things, the government will never do anything wrong for its people. You people should be engaged in more constructive things like planting trees”.

We were not to give up that easy if this is what Mr. MLA had to say so we began shooting questions and in a tizzy Mr. MLA had to go but not before offering water and biscuits to the cyclists. We decided to make a point and began walking out after dropping the biscuits back into the box and leaving the water bottle behind on the table. Mr. MLA ran out of his room and stopped us. He requested us to stop behaving in this fashion and said that he was pro people and pro poor and that he would do the right thing for the people of Cuddalore. He also assured that he would raise the issue in the assembly and also with the appropriate people at the appropriate time.

Mahatma Gandhi Hospital and Medical College

From Cuddalore town we headed to the next destination, Pondicherry. En route we halted at Kirumbakkam which was also an industrial area but residents here narrated a unique story. They were sharing their neighborhood with the Mahatma Gandhi Hospital & Medical College and the Arupadai Veedu Hospital & Medical College both of these were a blight on the landscape. Both the hospitals are water intensive and are severely burdening the ground water. In addition to this they also release their effluents onto the land, the Arupadai Veedu Hospital even injects them into the ground.

Here we met the local lake committee who offered their support and solidarity to the residents of SIPCOT. Nityanand spoke about medical waste and the problems arising during their disposal.

First milestone – Pondicherry

We had a public meeting at Pondicherry hosted by the Pondicherry Science Forum, CITU, DYFI and local organizations. They all spoke against mindless industialisation, and chemical industries and demanded more labour intensive industries. Nityanand, Mani and Parasuraman spoke about toxic industries and their impact on the environment. Nityanand made a special mention about the youth who formed the major part of the tour participants. Lot of them had lied to get permission from their colleges to participate in the tour. The day ended at 9 pm after a screening at Mettupalayam.

We will spend the night at the CPI office. Tomorrow is going to be more relaxed as we have to cover only 40kms so a bunch of us are heading out to the beach early morning.

The inauguration of the 1000 Bhopals exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademy was a great success. We had Ms. K. Kanimozhi, renowned poetess and daughter of Tamilnadu Chief Minister Mr. K. Karunanidhi inaugurate the exhibition. We introduced her to the issue and updated her about the situation in Bhopal and also explained to her the situation in Cuddalore and other toxic hotpots in Tamilnadu.
She was shocked to see stark images especially from Kasergode in Kerala and the Golden Corridor in Gujarat, which were a grim reminder of the fact that we were not moving in the right direction with development.
There were about 90 exhibits in all including paintings from children of SIPCOT Cuddalore and school children from Chennai.
Ms. Kanimozhi suggested that we talk about these issue of pollution and toxics with more people especially school children in order to generate an opinion about the issue. She also said that some of the images were really heart wrenching and something needs to be done to set things right. All the major media was present at the launch to catch a glimpse of Kanimozhi.
School children from KRMM School who were part of the school out reach program also visited the exhibition later during the day to view their paintings, which were on display among the other paintings.

Photo Credit: Jaison G, Deccan Chronicle, Chennai.

Source www.sipcotcuddalore.com

Cycle rally to mark Bhopal tragedy-The Hindu

Special Correspondent

To create awareness on need for safe industries

CUDDALORE: A cycle rally, from Cuddalore to Chennai, was flagged off on Tuesday by Kolathur Mani, Periyar Dravida Kazhagam leader, to mark the Bhopal gas leak disaster (occurred on December 3,1984) and to protest against the concentration of pollution causing units in the SIPCOT Industrial Estate here.

The rally, in which 20 cyclists are participating, is intended to create awareness among the people about the need for safe industries that will not defile environment.

The rallyists will pedal their way through Puducherry, Tindivanam, Chengalpattu and reach Chennai on December 3. On December 4, a conference will be held in Chennai , focussing on the environmental degradation caused by various industries, with particular reference to Cuddalore.

Addressing the rallyists, Mr. Kolathur Mani said because of serious pollution it would not be an exaggeration to term Cuddalore as another Bhopal in the making. Mettur too was facing a similar predicament, because of the proliferation of the pollution causing units.

Mr. Mani called upon the State Government to strictly enforce the pollution control rules. For the sake of providing 300-500 jobs, the lives of five lakh families should not be put at peril. Instead, the Government should promote environment-friendly and labour-intensive industries.

Chairman of District Environmental Protection Organisation for Right Tackling (DEPORT) M. Nizamudeen said the existing chemical units in the SIPCOT Industrial Estate had already caused irreparable damage to air, soil and water.

Despite the directive of the Supreme Court, the NEERI and other agencies, no efforts seemed to have been made to check pollution.

Mr. Nizamudeen further said the proposal to set up a polyvinyl chloride factory, an oil refinery and a textile park in the industrial estate would further aggravate the pollution problem.

Those, who support the rally, include the SIPCOT Community Social and Environmental Monitoring Group, Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation, The Other Media, Exnora, and Meenavar Viduthalai Vengaigal.

Cycle rally to create eco-awareness - New Indian Express

Wednesday November 29 2006 00:00 IST

CUDDALORE: A five-day cycle rally aimed at creating awareness on environmental issues was flagged off here on Tuesday.

The participants will cover Cuddalore, Villupuram, Kancheepuram, Puducherry and Chennai districts.

President of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam Kolathur Mani and chairman, District Environmental Protection Organisation for Right Tackling, M Nizamudeen flagged off the rally.

The participants will create an awareness among the people on the threats faced by people due to the establishment of industries of various kinds at the SIPCOT.

With the decks being cleared for the setting up of a mega PVC plant, marine terminal, desalination plant, coal-fired thermal power plant and a textile park in SIPCOT, the forum feared that the industries would pose a threat to the environment and marine life.

Members of the SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitoring Group, West Konur Farmers’ Welfare Association, Manali Youth Exnora, Kattukuppam Civic Exnora, Meenavar Viduthalai Vengaikal, Tamil Nadu Meenavar Munnetra Sangam and South India Meenavar Welfare Association, are among the participants.

Besides creating awareness, the group would also screen films on environmental protection at Chithraipettai, Periyapattu, Thyagavalli, Puducherry, Tindivanam, Chengalpattu and Besant Nagar.

Update Day2: 29 November 2006, morning from Puduchatram

From Nity: We set off for our next destination to Cuddalore New Town at 7:30 am half hour past the scheduled time. Some of us were up at 4 am to fulfil the morning duties while others not so keen on attnending the call woke up at 6. We are 6 km away from Perangipettai which was one of the worst affected during the killer tsunami two years ago. Puduchatram, where we spent the night, is extremely rich in groundwater since its aquifers are spring fed. The groundwater here however has been contaminated post tsunami due to the saline intrusion. The groundwater here is so high that toilets cannot be dug very deep for the fear they might hit the water table. Puduchatram is where the SIMA textile park is proposed to be set up as part of the SIPCOT phase III expansion since the area is very rich in groundwater. Puduchatram is about 4 km away from Samiarpettai. The mainstay in Puduchatram is agriculture like cashew and paddy.

The living conditions at here were very basic and we had to make do with one toilet for 25 of us. Some of us found space in the warandah of a large building, huddled up all together since the climate was quite cool.

More about SIMA textile park:

Textile Park by South India Mills Association: Earlier this year, the Madras High Court threatened to close down nearly 737 textile units in Tiruppur because of their pollution. The companies had destroyed the groundwater in the entire town, and sucked dry wells in towns as far as way as Palladam. The River Noyyal now carries toxic effluents, and an entire dam ­ the Orathupalayam Reservoir ­ is now brimming with effluents from Tirupur’s textile units.

Rather than clean up, the Government is encouraging these companies to do two things. First, new and big dyeing industries are being encouraged to shift to Cuddalore. Already 300 acres of land have been allotted to 15 units. These bleaching and dyeing units will destroy both agriculture and fisheries in the area. Fisheries will suffer because the companies plan to discharge the multicoloured toxic effluents into the sea between Samiarpettai and Parangipettai. Agriculture will suffer because the companies will suck out vast amounts of groundwater for their process. Moreover, the companies plan to set up a coal-fired power plant, which will discharge hot water into the sea, and contribute to tremendous air pollution. Sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants will kill agriculture.

Second, the Government has also approved plans to pump textile effluents from Erode and Tiruppur to the sea in Cuddalore. That means the effluents will travel nearly 400 km to avoid polluting the agricultural lands enroute, and fall into the sea in Cuddalore.

Visit http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/

Chennai November 29, 2006 - Renowned poet Ms. Kanimozhi launched the ‘1000 Bhopals’ photo exhibition at the Lalit Kala Akademy today. The exhibition that displayed images from various toxic hotspots across India is part of the week long activities organized by the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal as a lead up to the 22nd Anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.

The photo and painting exhibition primarily focuses on chemical pollution and its impact on human and environmental health and aims at raising awareness of the general public about the consumption of chemicals and its impact on the future generations and on people who share their backyards with facilities that make such chemicals. Though the exhibit displays images of Endosulphan poisoning in Kasargode, Kerala and chemical pollution from the Golden Corridor in Gujarat, the main focus is on Tamilnadu where places like Cuddalore, Mettur, Manali and Chengelpet are severely impacted by industrial pollution.

The exhibition also aims to generate public opinion on further expansion of SIPCOT Cuddalore that is already reeling under pollution from the 19 chemical industries that it houses. Air samples taken inside the estate revealed the presence of at least 25 toxic chemicals including 8 carcinogens, some at levels 20,000 times above those prescribed by the US Environment Protection Agency.

There are plans underway to divert 4 toxic and 2 industrial infrastructure projects to SIPCOT Cuddalore including a 170,000 tons per annum PVC plant, a six million tons per annum oil refinery, a 4000MW coal-fired power plant, a Textile Park a la Tiruppur and pipelines to pump effluents from leather tanneries in Ambur-Vaniyambadi and Tiruppur textile dyeing units into the Cuddalore sea.

The exhibition is on until the 4th of December 2006 between 10am and 5pm at Lalit Kala Akademy No. 4 Greams Road, Thousand Lights, Chennai.

For more information contact Dharmesh Shah - 9444416546

Issued by: SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitoring, Cuddalore District Consumer Protection Organisation, DEPORT, Youth for Social Change and The Other Media. Supported by: West Gonur Farmers Welfare Association, Manali Youth Exnora, Students from Chennai, Liberation Tigers of Fisherfolks, South India Fishermen Welfare Association, Tamilnadu Meenavar Munnetra Kazhagam, Human Rights Initaitive of Tamilnadu, Pondycherry Unit of DYFI, Pondicherry Science Forum, Guide Chengalpet, Thandai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam.

Supported by: West Gonur Farmers Welfare Association, Manali Youth Exnora, Students from Chennai, Liberation Tigers of Fisherfolks, South India Fishermen Welfare Association, Tamilnadu Meenavar Munnetra Kazhagam, Human Rights Initaitive of Tamilnadu, Pondycherry Unit of DYFI, Pondicherry Science Forum, Guide Chengalpet, Thandai Periyar Dravida Kazhagam.

Visit http://www.sipcotcuddalore.com/

Report From Nityanand Jayaraman: DAY 1, 11:00 pm

We set off on schedule at 11.00 am and the first cycle crisis occurred within 20 meters of the start. We got cycle fixed at Old Town, Cuddalore and carried on. Earlier the flag off was good with a decent media response. Main group representatives spoke about the situation in Cuddalore but S. Ramanathan of SACEM ended the meeting with a memorable statement “they say that if the country wants to develop the youth need to dream, in SIPCOT youth beg of a good nights sleep in order to dream.

Kolathur Mani introduced the people of Mettur at the launch he said that people living next to Chemplast’s PVC factory find life very difficult and that they have come in solidarity to the people of Cuddalore. They have forfeited their daily wages to be with the residents of Cuddalore and join them in the struggle. The representatives from Mettur included Madhusudhanan, father of M. Samivel who was exposed to a deadly Chlorine gas leak when he was just 20 days old. The representatives from the West Gonur Farmers Association spoke about the condition of agriculture in Mettur. All wells are polluted in the vicinity of Chemplast and nearly 5000 acres of land has been wasted. The company does not even have an ambulance for emergencies like their frequent Chlorine gas leaks due to which many residents have been seriously injured and hospitalized. The farmers also said that they have been living with Chemplast for the past 50 years and that it is extremely dishonest in their dealings with the local people.

En route participants met and spoke to passers by and people at local stalls about the purpose of their journey. They also stopped at all roadside tea stalls and zealously spoke about the problems of SIPCOT Cuddalore and about its relevance to Bhopal.

We passed the SIPCOT chemical complex but since the wind was blowing south to south east we could not smell the industries on the ECR. Despite this there were occasional strong whiffs from Shasun and Tantech. Two smells were the most noticeable, Shasun’s strong detergent like smell and SPICs characteristic shit like smell that shocked people.

Just before lunch-time at Sangolikuppam, Gaana Vijay sang a Tamil Song ‘Naarde Naarde’ that literally means ‘it smells it smells’ for the people waiting for food, an appropriate song for the kinds of smells that lingered in the air.

After lunch we set off for Thyagavalli Panchayat where upon arrival the local elected representatives who had issued a resolution against Chemplast’s proposal in Cuddalore greeted us. We were also offered refreshments which were basically local drinks filled into Coke and Sprite bottles, a neat home grown way of defeating the multinationals. We also drank tender coconut water in Thyagavalli and it tasted absolutely fantastic in complete contrast to the tender coconut in SIPCOT. The reason for this according to the locals is the absence of industries in Thyagavalli. Similar experiences have also been felt in Mettur where the groundwater has been heavily contaminated.

From Thyagavalli we reached Ambedkar Nagar for a brief period the ride overall was extremely pleasant with a gentle cool breeze flowing throughout. The sun was pretty harsh during some parts of the day and some of the participants suffered burns.

The next stop was Chitrapettai. Here we had to go door to door to invite people for the program. Kosu Mani of Tamilnadu Meenavar Munnetra Kazhagam, A. Mani of west Gonur Farmers Association and Kolathur Mani spoke about the situation in SIPCOT Cuddalore. Following which the LCD projector was set up for the film screening only to discover that the power plug was missing and after a 20 minute long attempt to fix the glitch plans for the screening had to be abandoned. On departure the police at Chitrapettai escorted us to the main road and cautioned us for speeding vehicles and asked us to maintain a single file as long as we were on the road.

By now it was dark and 3 cycles gave way. We somehow dragged them to Puduchatram, our halt for the night. Here the local people were not intimated so there were no arrangements for dinner so we all set off in different directions and finally found the last few Dosais in Puduchatram for dinner. This did not in anyway dampen the sprits; its 10:45 pm and people are still up and chatting. We are on the veranda of a large building in Puduchatram where we will spend the night, we have only one toilet for 25 of us. Natures calls will have to be answered on the road side as we need to be on the road by 7am in order to stick to the schedule.

Clinton to visit to tsunami-affected countries - The Hindu

…Clinton’s office said on Monday, he will first travel to Cuddalore on December one to see a new housing complex constructed for fishermen whose homes were destroyed by the tsunami and a rehabilitated school. He will also visit a cyclone shelter with a newly installed early warning system and witness an early warning test and mock drill more>>

Clinton to visit India in December - NDTV

Clinton to visit tsunami affected areas in December - Zee News

Clinton to make final visit to tsunami-affected countries as U.N. envoy - International Herald Tribune

Clinton to make final visit to tsunami-affected countries as UN envoy - Garavi Gujarat

For the past several days I have been updating the blog on issues related to industrial pollution in SIPCOT Cuddalore. A cycle rally is to start from Cuddalore today to commemorate the Bhopal tragedy. The rally will be ending in Chennai on December 2nd. There are various events planned on the way, including the film screening. Extend your support by ensuring your presence. The details of route and schedule can be found in Remember Bhopal;Fight for Cuddalore article.

Leading up to the 22nd Bhopal anniversary, touth from fishing communities and colleges of Chennai, along with environmental activists and residents from pollution-impacted communities in Mettur and Cuddalore, will cycle 280km from Cuddalore to Chennai starting 28 November, 2006. Jessie Bhangoo presents an audio introduction to the roadshow. Click here to listen.

27 November, 2006. Cuddalore — A truck carrying a hazardous chemical powder was found parked for more than 30 minutes without driver or cleaner near Sellankuppam at 11 a.m. today. SACEM member G.K. Amrithalingam who reported the incident said shopkeepers and commuters experienced severe irritation of the throat due to the fine white powder that was being released as dust from the truck. Upon their return, the driver and cleaner were asked to take the vehicle out. The vehicle (License No. TN31H 1687) was carrying cargo loaded at TANFAC Ltd in SIPCOT, and was destined to Andhra Pradesh.