Socio-political body protests water pollution by factories in Chanda, villagers counter claim

Chandrapur: Alleging water pollution in the area and resultant crop damage due to discharge of untreated effluents from a chemical factory and a bunch of cardboard manufacturers near Ballarpur, Ulgulan Sanghatana, a socio-political organisation, staged protest on Friday.
The protest, however, was countered by a section of villagers who submitted a memorandum to the tehsildar claiming that the factories were causing no water pollution and instead many are getting employment because of these.
President of Ulgulan Sanghatana Raju Zode claimed untreated effluents from chemical factory Bamni Proteins Ltd and more than half a dozen cardboard units near Dehali village are discharged into the village nullah. While the polluted water is causing damage to crops in the surrounding area, cattle too are falling sick after drinking the water, he said.
“The pollution in also killing fish in the nullah and Wardha River ahead,” said Zode. The cardboard factories obtain sludge, a waste material from paper mill, and use it as raw material in their production. However, these factories discharge the effluents without any treatment into the nullah, he alleged.
Zode claimed the sanghatana had submitted memorandums earlier also seeking action against the erring factories, but the administration failed to take any action.
“As the concerned authorities neglected the issue, Ulgulan decided to stage protests,” said Zode.
While Zode claimed to have support of the affected villages, a bunch of villagers submitted a memorandum to tehsildar claiming that protest by Zode is a farce. Villagers from Bamni, Kalmana, Lavari and Dehali in a joint memorandum claimed that discharge from these factories cause no damage to their crops or cattle.
The villagers emphasized that these factories provide employment to around 600 people in surrounding villages and said the complaints filed by Zode are out of vested interest. “Any closure action on these factories will render these workers jobless,” they said. Over 60 villagers have signed the memorandum submitted to tehsildar.