In the grievance meet held here on Friday, Collector Ajay Yadav assured farmers that polluting units that do not conform to Zero Liquidity Discharge norms would be shut down.
Addressing farmers’ grievances, he said, “We will take measures to close down the factories discharging effluents into Palar and not complying with zero liquid discharge. I have discussed this with the chairman of Pollution Control Board.”
The Collector admitted that several tanneries in Pernambut area had failed to attain the ZLD.
Farmers from Vaniyambadi, Pernambut and nearby areas said the tanneries and leather factories continued to release untreated effluents into Palar, while farmers from Walajapet demanded the district administration act swiftly against illegal sand mining. The farmers questioned the commitment of the administration and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board in protecting the environment and the livelihood of around 5 lakh farmers living along the Palar.
N Gajapathy, a farmer from Ambur and executive member of Vellore District Environment Monitoring Committee, said, “The Supreme Court had empowered the collector and district magistrate to close down tanneries that failed to achieve the norms fixed by pollution control board, but the district administration had failed to take any action against such factories.” Farmers from Sathampakkam raised the issue of illegal sand mining from Palar River bed demanding action on the quarries.
They said many private parties were leasing out land and installing bore pumps to tap ground water, which had affected a number of farm wells.
“I have discussed the exploitation of ground water by private parties for commercial purpose. We will take appropriate action against them ,” the Collector said.
The farmers spoke about the non- availability of tractors, fertilisers and seeds at the agriculture department and the frequent failures of transformers. The Collector directed the officials to take appropriate action.
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