Tirupur: The clearance given by Parliament to the sanctioning of Rs. 200 crore by the Central Government to offset the project cost incurred for the 20 Common Effluent treatment Plants (CETPs) in Tirupur has been evoking varied response.
The Rs. 200-croreis the partake of Central Government to the Rs. 320 crore allocation promised for the dyeing units who shared the cost of setting up CETPs with the remaining share to be given by the State Government.
Though the industrial associations like Tirupur Exporters Association and Dyers Association of Tirupur had welcomed the decision, farmers' community who faced the brunt of the high pollution in River Noyyal owing to indiscriminate industrial effluent discharge during the last few decades feels that it was a waste of tax payers' money.
“From our past experience, it can be said for sure that any amount distributed to dyers' fraternity will only benefit them to increase their book profits instead of serving the purpose of stopping the industrial effluent discharge into River Noyyal,” Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association (NRAPA) A. P. Kandasamy told The Hindu.
Mr. Kandasamy also referred to the writ petition the Association was forced to file in the Madras High Court after a government study found that Total Dissolved Solids levels in Noyyal had gone up to 5,100 ppm (parts per million) against the permissible limit of 2,100 ppm.
“Remember, this took place despite the Supreme Court directive which asked the dyeing units to ensure zero liquid discharge from January 6 this year and after commissioning the CETPs,” he said. He said that the SC directive came following a 14-year legal battle the Association waged against the dyeing units.K. Duraisamy, president of Tirupur District Groundwater Protection Committee, said that when Supreme Court itself had stated in the verdict in the Public Interest Litigation filed by NRAPA that ‘polluters pay', why then the government allocated grants to the dyeing units.
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