Hyderabad: The Pollution Control Board caught an illegal tanker with toxic waste on the Outer Ring Road near Choutuppal on Saturday. The tanker containing 20 kilolitres of toxic effluents Ortin Labora-tories was headed to the Musi river to dump waste. According to PCB, the operation was the result of a tip-off from a local.
“The driver failed to produce documents for the effluents,” said PCB senior scientist N. Raveendhar.
PCB chief environmental engineer P. Vishwa-nathan who was involved in the mission said that the tanker was chased for 6 km.
“The driver and owner of the tanker admitted to discharging effluents from the unit regularly,” he said.
The tanker was sent to the Jeedmetla effluents treatment plant, the effluents have been sent to the labs for toxicity checks. Ortin Labs at Malka-puram produces active pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates.
The company which was established in 2006 was slated to be a zero discharge plant, owing to which they never had any need to dump their wastes outside the manufacturing unit.
According to PCB, the company may get away with a 15-30 day closure order. Though PCB has a polluter pays policy, environmentalists say it lacks teeth as it only requires a bank guarantee.
“The public must know that the company will get away with a small penalty and temporary closure,” said Mr Babu Rao, former chief scientist with IICT and environmentalist.
“Every morning near Naglore bridge where this truck was caught, many septic tank trucks dispose of fecal waste. Musi’s dissolved oxygen levels which are necessary for any kind of life, will be greatly impacted,” said environmentalist B.V. Subba Rao.
