Toda tribes say they haven’t seen butterflies and sparrows for decades

Udhagamandalam: People residing near Sterling Biotech Ltd have been relentlessly appealing to the government for decades to check pollution in water bodies.

Vasamalli, a senior Toda woman and member of the State Wildlife Board, said, "Our lands are losing fertility because of pollution. The effluents discharged by Sterling Biotech Ltd gravely affects the water bodies in tribal hamlets and other areas also. Several petitions to the administration did not yield any result."

According to Pilthey Kuttan, another Toda residing at Schoolmund, they cannot let their cattle graze in the area as the water near the grass lands is highly polluted. "We have seen many of our buffaloes die due to pollution," he said. "We used to have over 150 buffaloes some 5 years ago. Now, we have just 70."

Thorthey Kuttan, a resident of Karshmund, a Toda hamlet, told TOI, "The odour from the effluents spreads to a radius of 4-5 km. It is really horrible to live in that area."

The tribals say they have not spotted butterflies and sparrows in that area for decades. They claim there is no pollination of jungle fruits for a decade.

Pothli Kuttan told TOI, "Near the Sandynallah area, butterflies, sparrows and monkeys have disappeared over a decade ago. We don't see any wild fruits in the trees. There seems to be no pollination at all. Over 30 buffaloes died some two years ago at Kozhimund due to the polluted water."

Residents say an average 70,000 litres of effluents is being discharged into the Kamarajar dam daily. The factory takes water from the dam and part of the effluents is discharged into the dam itself, besides to the Pykara dam.

Also, a petition submitted by the Todas to the authorities stated that the effluents were reaching the Pykara dam after running a distance of nearly 5 km through dense forest areas like Glenmorgan, Masinagudi and Moyar and thus the polluted water is a threat even to many rare species of wildlife.

Representatives of the Toda community attended a workshop at Kotagiri on Tuesday, conducted by ATREE, in association with WWF and hosted by Keystone, an NGO based in Kotagiri.