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PCB officials rapped for blinking at pollution woes
Officials of Pollution Control Board found themselves at the receiving end at the Zilla Praja Parishad general body meeting held in Sangareddy on Tuesday.
Pollution Control Board officials face allegations of deliberately ignoring pollution causing industries in Sangareddy, Medak and Siddipet districts
Sangareddy: Officials of Pollution Control Board found themselves at the receiving end at the Zilla Praja Parishad general body meeting held in Sangareddy on Tuesday.
People’s representatives irrespective of their political affiliations strongly criticised the indifference and deliberate negligence on part of PCB officials in preventing industries from polluting land, air and water in Sangareddy, Medak and Siddipet districts.
It all started when the representative from PCB claimed to have issued closure notices to 10 companies in Patancheru and Jinnaram areas for causing pollution. The official added that bank guarantee was taken from the managements and then they were allowed to start production activities again.
The statement triggered anger and condemnation among representatives who sought to know what purpose it served if no action was taken against the pollution-causing companies.
“People are dying out there because of pollution and you people are taking money from the companies and leaving them. This is what you’ve been doing,” fumed Kotha Prabhakar Reddy, Member of Parliament from Medak.
He also raised a recent incident where almost all the fishes of Isnapur irrigation tank died after industrial waste got into the tank causing Rs 5 lakh loss to the government, as fish seed was recently released in that tank as part of the fisheries’ department’s efforts to develop fisheries sector in the State.
“Indian Medical Survey has revealed that dangerous diseases which are also alien to the medical field are affecting the people living in the industrial areas. If there are 78 bulk drug manufacturing units in Jinnaram industrial area alone, how many of such companies are there in Patancheru and other industrial areas?” Patancheru MLA G Mahipal Reddy questioned the official.
People’s representatives reminded that PCB officials were supposed to conduct a joint meeting in Patancheru right after the last ZP general body meeting but no follow-up happened even after three months.
Chegunta Mandal Parishad President and Kondapur ZPTC raised serious concerns over Haritha Haram saplings, planted by companies in villages, dying because they were not being taken care of. Regode ZPTC Anjaiah showed official reports of the administration and pointed-out that only 35 per cent of saplings planted during Haritha Haram in his mandal were able to survive and only 45 per cent of teak saplings could survive.
Fed-up with the official apathy, Kotha Prabhakar asked the people’s representatives to directly deal with the companies regarding matters relating to pollution instead of relying on PCB officials here on.
ZP Chairperson Rajamani Yadav, MLA M Bhupal Reddy, MLC Sudhakar Reddy, Sangareddy district Collector Manickraj Kannan, Medak district Collector Bharati Hollikeri, Sangareddy Joint Collector V Venkateswarlu and others participated in the meeting.
