Industrial units poisoning south Gujarat beaches

Fish Dying, Fisherfolk Migrating, But State Turns A Blind Eye To Waste

Ashley D’Mello | TNN
 

Sanjan (Near Daman): Dashrath Kaka can’t understand why the government doesn’t take action against those who are pumping hazardous chemicals from an industrial estate and discharging them 17 km away into the sea near his village Tadgam in coastal Gujarat.
    The 70-year-old former sarpanch, sadness written over his wizened features, says, “They allowed pollutants to destroy the fish, forcing fisherfolk to migrate to Dwarka, Porbandar and Veraval to earn a living.’’ He adds that leaks from the pipeline also release foul odour, damage local water sources and threaten the health of villagers. His lament comes even as an estimated 450 to 500 tonnes of oil or chemical pollutants have polluted the sea and beaches of south Gujarat, raising an unbearable stink, thickening the water and dotting the sand with viscous chemical lumps.
    In the decade since the pipeline from Saregam Industrial Estate was laid near Dashrath Kaka’s village, industrial effluents have been pumped into a common well, and from there into the sea by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC). The pollution has destroyed local livelihoods. According to Yatin Bhandary, the sarpanch of Nargol village near Tadgam, “Over one lakh people in more than a dozen villages are affected.’’ Fishermen on the beach say their catch has declined considerably over the years. Dashrath Kaka recalls a time when they picked lobsters off the rocks and from sandy basins.
    Lord’s Seaside Cooperative Housing Service Society at Tadgam has taken up the issue with the Gujarat Pollution Control Board in Gandhinagar. “Some pesticides and herbicides produced at Saregam are banned abroad because they’re so toxic,’’ the society says. It got the Gujarat Ecology Society (GES), a nongovernment research outfit in Vadodara, to examine the effluents. GES found high levels of pollution at many locations, with cadmium, lead, mercury and copper far beyond permissible levels in the intertidal sea bed. The tests were conducted at the Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai.
    GES’s findings state, “The effluent is highly toxic and not acceptable...as per Central Pollution Control Board and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) standards.’’ GES notes the effluent is a serious threat to marine life and the coastal environment, and is causing resentment amongst locals because of its pungent smell and its harshness on human skin. GES adds that the pipeline is poorly laid and has many leaks. GPCB regional officer V R Patel admits to the problem.”We’ve asked GIDC to set up a common effluent treatment plant,’’ he says. B N Desai, former director of the Indian Institute of Oceanography and a consultant to Lord’s society, says such a facility is “a must.’’ However, GIDC officials say it’s the duty of individual industries to treat their effluents.