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Kodaikanal civic chief M Sridhar seeks clean up on par with global standards

Municipality chairman has also requested TNPCB to provide a copy of detail project report
Chennai: Kodaikanal municipality chairman M. Sridhar has written to Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNP CB) expressing concern over the mercury contamination in Kodaikanal and stressed that any clean up undertaken should be on par with international standards. In a letter addressed to chairman of TN PCB, a copy of which is available with DC, Sridhar said that TNPCB should take all decisions in consultation with the municipality.
The municipality chairman has also requested TNPCB to provide a copy of detail project report (DPR) submitted by the Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on remediation of the Kodaikanal thermometer plant site. The municipality would like to go through the DPR and submit its suggestions.
“There shouldn’t be any compromise on the standards. It should be on par with the best of international standards. I have lived in Kodaikanal and the water bodies and the forests here are ecologically very sensitive. They have to be protected from any form of contamination,” said Sridhar, also an AIADMK party functionary.
Nityanand Jayaraman of Chennai Solidarity Group said Unilever was trying to push the TNPCB to dilute the standards of mercury poisoning in the soil to 25 mg/kg, which is 25 times less stringent than would be permissible in Unilever’s home country, the U.K. In the US, the government has forced polluters to clean-up levels as low as 0.13 mg/kg. Public opposition to its efforts to dilute the clean up standards is a reason why TN PCB has not given its consent yet.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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