McDowell plant in Kerala polluting air, water

Wednesday, 06 August 2003, 19:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 40-year-old distillery in Kerala's Alappuzha district is polluting both water and air, a state assembly committee on environment has found. The committee discovered that waste from the McDowell plant in Chertalai was being drained into water sources in the area causing a serious health threat to the people. "Close to 270,000 litres of waste water is daily let into the Vembanad lake without any proper waste disposal methods despite several latest techniques that are there in the market today. Not only is it a problem for the locals but the marine wealth of the place is also seriously affected," said the report. The committee said 855,000 litres of IMFL (Indian made foreign liquor) was being produced in the plant every month. Member of the committee Raju Abraham said the issue was very grave but it had been identified and it was now up to the government to act on the recommendations. "What we are upset about is that despite the availability of latest waste control measures and the fact that this particular company (United Breweries) is making a huge profit, they have done little in this regard," Abraham told IANS. Interestingly, the committee also found that the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had given a virtual clean chit to the company saying that 99 percent of the waste disposed was free of any pollutants. "We are really surprised by this report," said Abraham. The committee recommended that it was the government's responsibility to set up a monitoring committee to ensure that all the waste was pollutant free. "It is the responsibility of the company to see that they provide free potable drinking water to the local residents," the report said, adding that a study had to be undertaken of the various canals in the district and the water in them. "Also, whenever samples of waste are being collected, a mechanism has to be evolved so that it is done in the presence of responsible local people," the report stated. The report comes close on the heels of the major controversy surrounding the Coca-Cola plant in Plachimada, which was also found to be polluting.
Source: IANS
siliconindia