Increasing protests against industrial pollution have lately forced many companies in Kerala to comply with the prescribed standards of environmental conservation. While some of them have adopted safeguards, others have invested in cleaner technologies that are environment-friendly.
At a recent public hearing held in Kochi, the Indian People's Tribunal on Environment and Human Rights (IPT) had named some companies in the state for their alleged role in environment law violations.
They included Hindustan Insecticides Ltd (HIL), Fertilisers and Chemicals, Travancore Ltd (FACT), Indian Rare Earths (IRE) and Merchem Ltd. Besides this, exactly a year ago the Kerala High Court directed the Kerala Pollution Control Board (KPCB) to monitor the emission levels of Phillips Carbon Black Ltd (PCBL) located at Karimugal in Kochi.
Other companies, like Binani Zinc Ltd (which has ISO 14000 certification) located in the northern industrial belt of Ernakulam district; the Coca-Cola factory in the northern district of Palakkad; state government-run units like Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd in Kollam and the Thiruvanathpuram-based Travancore Titanium Products, have been embroiled in environmental controversies.
While earlier, pleas of environmentalists against pollution had no impact, in the absence of political will and paucity of funds, there is a change of late. Companies are employment pollution control measures before they can be taken to court by agitating people. Constant monitoring and follow up by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board under the directions of the High Court has also been a point of pressure.
Take PCBL. This is standing testiomy to the fact that agitations sparked of by the local populace against pollution can make a company resort to drastic measures to transform its factory into one of the most "green" and environment-friendly factories in the world. PCBL's journey towards a "green" factory started exactly a year ago when accidental emission of carbon dust led to the closure of the factory on July 26, 2001 on the directions of the Kerala High Court.
Soon thereafter the company announced concerted efforts towards ensuring an environment-friendly and green factory and the court in November 2001 partially lifted the restrictions and allowed the company to recommence operations, but at 50 per cent of its installed capacity.
According to PCBL managing director Sudhir Sahgal, his company has invested Rs 7 crore during the last 12 months "to make the Kochi factory one of the most green and eco-friendly factories amongst those manufacturing carbon black in the world".
Revealing that the Kochi unit has installed secondary bag filters to prevent release of carbon black into the atmosphere, the MD said, "This specialised filter is unique in this industry as all carbon black factories in India as well as around the word rely only on the primary bag filters for the purpose."
Sound mufflers were also installed to control noise pollution. "The neighbourhood now hardly realizes that a major factory is operating nearby," he said.
Emphasising that PCBL's efforts towards becoming more eco-friendly is not limited to only keeping the air clean and controlling sound pollution, Sahgal said, " There is an almost complete recycling of water released by the unit through a complex system of dams, ponds and re-circulating pumps in the effluent treatment plant. The water quality is now such that fish is being bred in it."
Additionally, imported high technologyincorporating monitoring systems with built-in alarms have been installed across all the chimney stacks, which ensure that emission of carbon black is checked. Samplings have been planted extensively to'green' Karimugal, he explained.
Revealing that his company has also put in place an environmental management system and initiated the process for getting the ISO 14000 certification, the MD said, "We are committed to providing our community partners and the neighbourhood an absolutely safe and friendly environment. Out objective is to have an absolutely environmentally-friendly unit and the Rs 7 crore so far spent in this direction is only the beginning of a journey towards making PCBL, Kochi into a model, efficient and responsive unit of which Kerala can be proud of. We are confident of getting the ISO 14000 certification for our unit shortly."
However, many industrialists say this concern for environmental issues and stringent imposition of pollution control measures has been at the cost of industrial development and have had its own downside. Conservationists' protests have led to a drastic decline of Kerala's business prospects over the years, they argue.
Emphasising that environmental protection cannot be isolated from the general issue of development they said: "implementation of laws should be uniform all over India so that caring for the environment becomes universal and economically viable."
PCBL, which also has manufacturing facilities in Durgapur (West Bengal) and in Palej (Gujarat) is feeling the disparity of the enforcement of pollution control measures in these two places as compared to that in Kerala. As the laws with regard to pollution control in West Bengal are not as stringent as in Kerala, PCBL has initiated the process of shifting one of the three manufacting lines at its Kochi-based plant to the Durgapur facility in West Bengal and it is also thinking in terms of retraining, redeploying and downsizing the workforce at its Kochi unit.
This step has been necessitated as its Kochi production unit has been operating at only 50 per cent of its installed capacity of 70,0000 tonne per annum since November 2001 because of restrictions on production imposed by the Kerala High Court.
Revealing that his company has three state-of-the-art manufacturing lines at its Kochi factory, Sahgal said that onene of these manufacturing lines having installed capacity of 12,000 tonne per annum is being shifted to Durgapur as he would not like the capacity to remain idle. The shifting process would be over within the next couple of weeks, he added.
This step would bring down the total installed capacity of the Kochi unit from the current 70,000 tonne to 58,000 tonne per annum and also entail retraining and redeployment of excess staff to the company's two other plants - one each in West Bengal and Gujarat.
