Activists, who have been demanding action against brick kilns that operate without proper permits in Thadagam valley of Coimbatore district, have sought the intervention of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) alleging that Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) is yet to take action on closure and sealing of 182 brick kilns recommended by the District Environmental Engineer, Coimbatore north, on various dates from February to April this year.
Activists T.M.S. Rajendran and ‘Thadagam’ S. Ganesh have appealed to the Additional Director of CPCB and its Chairman in separate letters to direct TNPCB to implement the recommendation of the District Environmental Engineer D. Jayalakshmi.
“As per information accessed under the Right to Information Act, the District Environmental Engineer recommended closure and sealing of 182 brick kilns in five village panchayats _ Thadagam, Nanjundapuram, 24 Veerapandi, Somaiyampalayam and Pannimadai_ on various dates from January 12 to April 20 this year. This recommendation was sent to TNPCB. However, no action has been taken yet,” alleged Mr. Ganesh.
He claimed that two committees from other regions also conducted detailed inspections in the five panchayats to study the impact of red earth mining and brick kiln operation.
“Members of the committees visited government and private hospitals, schools and houses in these places. They are said to have been taken aback seeing the impact of the uncontrolled operations of brick kilns,” he claimed.
In his letter to CPCB Chairman, he said that the five panchayats were spread in an area of about eight sq.km adjoining the Western Ghats, which is bestowed with natural resources, rare medicinal plants, wildlife and rare to find birds. Sensing the importance, Government established the Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History in this area. In addition, the area falls under Hill Area Conservation Authority zone.
The letter said that a significant portion of population was having breathing troubles and very young children were having serious diseases.
“Similar appeals were also made to TNPCB and Department of Geology and Mining,” he added.
According to Mr. Rajendran, a farmer-turned- activist, around 4,000 acres in the five panchayats are now hardly conducive for farming as red earth is being mined for brick making and due to depleted levels of ground water.
“We want the Government to shut down the units that were functioning illegally and collect fine from them. Those lands should be recovered,” he said.
M. Manickaraj, former counsellor from Nanjundapuram and resident of Madathur, claimed that bore wells are now dug up to 800 feet to get water in the five panchayats while ground water was available at around 100 feet 10 years ago.