KOCHI: In protest against the “false campaigns” on industrial pollution of the River Periyar and demanding government intervention to protect both the river and the industries, the joint trade union council took out a rally on Saturday. CITU state general secretary Elamaram Kareem inaugurated the rally. The trade union council demanded that the government should support it in bringing out the real picture on river pollution. The council representatives alleged that there were deliberate attempts to misguide religious leaders and opinion makers that drinking water from the Periyar contained a high level of toxic elements.
“The Kerala Water Authority’s pump house and intake well is situated at Aluva, 15 km upstream of the industrial area. When the river flows towards the west, how can pollutants reach upstream?,” asked the council representatives. Of the 244 km length of the Periyar, the industries are located at the estuary, which constitutes only 2 per cent of the river’s total area. Even the Central Pollution Control Board has recommended pollution remediation of the entire stretch of the river from its origin.
Authorities should take measures to prevent extensive dumping of municipal solid waste, sewage waste and hospital waste into the river,” they said. Representatives of various trade unions including K. Chandran Pillai, Thampan Thomas, T.A Venugopal, K.P Udayahanu and CPM district secretary P. Rajeev, CPI district secretary P. Raju, BJP district president M.K Mohandas addressed the gathering.
