Chemical firm using secret pipelines to dump waste in nala busted in Telangana

HYDERABAD: In a shocking finding, the Telangana State Pollution control Board (TSPCB) has discovered an underground pipeline leading from a chemical manufacturing company, Venkateshwara Chemicals, to a nearby nala (drain) in the Jeedimetla industrial area. The pipeline is allegedly being used by the company to carry the unit’s effluents to the drain.

A probe is being conducted by the board against another company, Thakur Chemicals, to find out if it is also involved in such illegal activity. The two companies are located in the Sri Venkateshwara Corporative Industrial Area, Jeedimetla. TSPCB officials, on receiving a tip-off on Tuesday that the two companies were dumping effluents in the underground pipeline, swung into action and deployed earth-movers to dig around Venkateshwara Chemicals.

On Wednesday they discovered the underground pipeline leading from the unit. Board’s environment engineer Kumar Pathak said, “After a lot of digging we came across an underground pipeline of around one foot in diameter that was leading from Venkateshwara Chemicals’ compound wall. The digging was conducted whole day till evening and will be continued on Thursday to know where the pipeline ends.”

When asked if effluent-dumping was going on when the pipeline was discovered and if there was a network of pipelines, Pathak said, “Although there was no dumping of effluents going on when we found the underground pipeline, there were traces which we collected and sent to TSPCB laboratory.
Once the results are out, action will be taken against the company. We did not find any other pipeline to suggest that there is a network of such underground pipelines.”

Pathak said that once the test results of samples were out and illegal dumping of effluents in the underground pipeline was proved, strict action would be taken against the two companies. As of Wednesday, no closure order or notice was issued to Venkateshwara Chemicals.