PERUMBAVOOR: Offering a ray of hope for the residents of Perumbavoor, the plywood manufacturers in the region have announced the formation of a new committee to keep a tab on the pollution caused by the companies.

The committee will study the cleanliness and hygiene amongst the plywood manufacturing units, said C K Abdul Majeed, general secretary, South Indian Plywood Manufacturers Association.

KOCHI: As the call against the industrial pollution caused by plywood factories strengthens, hundreds of people took part in a protest march to the District Collectorate on Monday.

The protest march, led by the Action Council for Environmental Protection, sought the cancellation of licences of the plywood manufacturing units in the worst polluted areas, a stop in approving licences to companies in residential areas, ban on the night-time functioning of the companies and raised various other demands. The march was inaugurated by social activist C R Neelakandan.

JOWAI: Unscientific limestone mining in War-Jaintia, Amlarem Sub-Division in Jaintia Hills has become a cause of concern for residents of Nongtalang village and its surrounding villages who are facing an impending water scarcity in the area.

A huge quantity of limestone is exported to Bangladesh via Tamabil on a daily basis which has encouraged individuals in the area to start limestone mining. The Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council has so far issued 21 numbers of NOCs (No Objection Certificates) for extraction of limestone, 25 NOCs to exporters and another 12 to transporters.

The green bench of the Lahore High Court directed Environment Protection Department and Water and Sanitation Agency to submit revised list of all the industries causing water pollution in the River Ravi by June 1.

Earlier Additional Secretary Environment submitted a list of industries mentioning 283 factories causing water pollution, while Wasa Director mentioned 520 factories in his report.

At this the court asked for revised and complete report having details of all the factories.

Environment Protection Department (EPD) Punjab issued notices to 110 polluter industrial units on Friday.

EPD sources said that six squads were constituted last week in view of increasing cases of environmental pollution which was causing health hazards.

The sources said industries were issued an environmental approval with certain conditions to enure that there was no negative impact on the environment and National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) were followed strictly.

Ahmedabad Tops The List With Maximum Notices

Ahmedabad: Following repeated violations of pollution norms in chemical hotspots, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has issued the highest number of show-cause and closure notices in recent times to several clusters of industries. Ahmedabad topped the list with most notices, according to the GPCB’s data. In just two financial years, the GPCB issued 1,680 closure notices to errant factories and nearly 2,118 show-cause notices, for violation of air, water and environment protection Acts respectively.

KOCHI: Expressing concern over the increasing incidents of fish deaths in the Periyar River, environmentalists brushed aside the claims made by Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) that the fish had died due to oxygen starvation. “It is common for the levels of dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water to go down gradually when the high-level of biodegradable waste in a water body. Under such circumstances, the aquatic organisms living in the region migrate to places where the DO is adequate, rather than dying out.