HC slams slack cooperation between Centre and State in cleansing up Periyar

Expressing concern on the persevering with large-scale dumping of hazardous waste into the Periyar and the obvious slack cooperation between the Centre and the State in cleansing up the river, the Kerala High Court noticed that the air pollution degree within the river posed an imminent hazard to folks.

This is basically as a consequence of dumping of hazardous waste into Kuzhikandam Creek, a tributary of the Periyar. Citing the shortage of synergy, the court docket mentioned that the Centre and the State had been citing excuses, as an alternative of working collectively to wash up the river.

A Division Bench of Justice Devan Ramachandran and Justice M.B. Snehalatha ordered the competent authority on the Centre to start discussions with the Secretary (Environment), Government of Kerala, to determine a viable resolution, together with another website for effluent remedy. The court docket additional directed stakeholders to contemplate the provisions of the Disaster Management Act to sort out air pollution.

It additionally took notice of another suggestion by Adv. A.X. Varghese to rejuvenate Kuzhikandam Creek by utilizing the infrastructure of Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited (FACT). The court docket mentioned that it will tolerate no additional delay on the problem of the air pollution of the Periyar and the necessity to clear up the creek.

It had been reported that hazardous chemical substances, together with DDT, Benzene Hexachloride, and Endosulfan, had been detected at larger ranges in all sediment samples collected from Kuzhikandam Creek and its sub-drains, following the mass fish kill within the Eloor-Edayar industrial stretch of the Periyar on May 20, 2024.

Sulphate focus within the samples was additionally discovered to be excessive. The highest focus of DDT (210.4 mg/kg) had been detected close to the discharge level of Hindustan Insecticides Limited, close to the creek, based mostly on the evaluation of sediment samples collected from the creek and its sub-drains becoming a member of the river.

The findings had subsequently been included within the report of the professional committee constituted by the High Court to analyze the mass fish kill alongside the commercial stretch of the river in 2024.