Jajpur: Heavy pollution by industrial units of Kalinganagar in the district have endangered the human and animal lives in the area as the firms are allegedly closing down electro-static precipitators (ESP) and releasing toxic fumes at night, a report said Monday. The ESPs filter the toxic materials and cleans the fumes before discharging them into atmosphere.
Industrial units discharge toxic fumes at night to escape notice of others. This has polluted the atmosphere to a considerable extent and has led to acid rain in the area, the report said. However, the regional office of the state pollution control board which is assigned to keep a check on the industrial pollution is allegedly sitting silent over the issue.
The failure of the pollution board has disappointed residents who now live at the mercy of these companies. It was alleged that the scientists and officials in SPCB have completely ignored the pollution by the industrial firms in exchange of heavy kickbacks from the latter.
This has happened despite the Centre and state government spending lakhs of rupees towards their salaries. What is alarming is that the SPCB has closed down the e-despatch system which earlier used to help in curbing pollution by the industrial firms. The matter came to the fore when a voluntary outfit Sahid Bhagat Singh Yuvak Sangha lodged a complaint in Jajpur Road police station in this regard.
According to the complaint, firms like Tata Steel and Jindal Steel have their own power plants and they deposit the solid wastes in their firm premises. However, as per rules they lack green cover in and around their plant premises.
A youth outfit has alleged that many plants in the area are closing down their ESPs at night and mostly on holidays to cut down on expenses on power consumption.
As a result, a smoky ring could be seen around the sun with a blanket of thick smoke enveloping the whole atmosphere in the area. This is mostly seen from 5 in the evening till the next day morning as the plants turn off their ESPs and release toxic fumes into atmosphere.
The discharge of toxic fumes in the air has polluted the water bodies whose water has now become unfit for human and animal consumption. People and animals have been affected by skin and other diseases by using the water.
Moreover, the dust particles released through the fumes have made the farmlands unfit for cultivation while the livestock has been affected by various diseases after grazing on the pasture lands. The outfit members Rajendra Biswal, Hemant Kumar Dhir, Malaya Biswal and Chandramani Samal have demanded registering cases against the erring firms under various sections of Air and Water Pollution Act.
According to the report, over 82 persons at Manpur village under nearby Danagadi block have lost their lives due to the pollution in the last few years. Similarly as per data available from the Danagadi community health centre as many as 25,000 people have visited the hospital for treatment after being affected by pollution related diseases.
The extent of the pollution has increased to such an extent that kidney related ailments are fast spreading its tentacles in the area with more and more people getting affected by the disease. Things have come to such a pass that the residents instead of enjoying the fruits of industrialization are now demanding to relocate them elsewhere. When contacted, SPCB’s regional officer Hadibandhu Panigrahi said he will review the complaint by the youth outfit and take necessary steps in this regard.
PNN