Chamber appeals for CETP assistance

The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, has appealed to the Central government to provide assistance to the processing industry of Tirupur by bearing 50 per cent of the cost of the common effluent treatment plant (CETP).

"The overall cost for the construction of CETP works out to around Rs 500 crore which could not be completely borne by the dyeing and bleaching units. If the Centre provides assistance, it would enable the industries to implement the zero discharge facilities," A Sakthivel, president of the chamber, said in a press release.

As per the Madras High Court's recent order, all the 600 dyeing and bleaching units will have to deposit half the total project cost of attaining zero effluent discharge (including installation of reverse osmosis plants, pipelines, civil works and evaporators) before February 28, or face closure.

A monitoring committee appointed by the High Court is supervising the progress towards attaining the zero effluent discharge into the Noyyal river.

Works on installing reverse osmosis (RO) plants and evaporators gained momentum only after the en masse closure ordered by the Court in July, 2005.

According to sources, the number of units that have achieved zero effluent discharge has gone up from 19 to 35. Works on 51 individual units are nearing completion.