Greenpeace activists spread toxic sludge from a contaminated lake at Patancheru on the doorstep of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board in Hyderabad today.
After five hours of protest, the APPCB Member Secretary met the
activists along with the pollution-affected villagers, admitted the
severity of the pollution and offered to discuss possible solutions
to the problem. "The APPCB is directly responsible for the crisis
in Patancheru. Pollution Control Boards are charged with the
responsibility of keeping polluters in check; instead, the APPCB
has chosen to openly support the industrialists, allowing them to
exploit loopholes and brazenly violate regulations," said Vinuta
Gopal, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace India, "Enough is enough!
Innumerable reports have established that the environment and the
people of Patancheru are being relentlessly poisoned. Since
scientific documentation of the disaster failed to move the
officials, we hoped that the sight and smell of it would."
The foul-smelling sludge, collected from the Asanikunta lake at
Patancheru was left at the APPCB doorstep as a symbol of the
chemical crisis engineered by their complicity with polluting
industries in the Medak district. For over two decades, these
industries have been allowed to discharge their toxic effluents
directly into the lakes and rivers of the region, rendering many
drinking water wells and tanks unusable. In October 2004,
Greenpeace released an epidemiological report on 'The State of
Community Health at Medak District'. The study, encompassing a
significantly large sample size of 10,874 people, shows an
overwhelming increase in most types of systemic diseases across the
study group. Despite the shocking results of this epidemiological
survey, and a specific request for the APPCB's official response,
the authorities have failed to take any action.
While most of the chemical intermediate and agro-chemical
companies upgrade to Bulk Drug manufacturing Units to meet the
increasing demand for export to countries like Russia, Germany and
USA, the local environment and the community have borne the brunt
of the highly polluting processes of these companies' production
practices.
"The only positive outcome of today's meeting was that the APPCB
admitted, for the first time, that mistakes have been made in the
past," said Bidhan Chandra Singh, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace
India, "The Member Secretary has assured us that by November this
year, they will have pinned down the 'sources' of contamination,
and more importantly that they would uphold the Polluter Pays
principle."
Today's non-violent protest at Hyderabad is part of the ongoing
Greenpeace campaign against the chemical crisis across the country.
Greenpeace is calling on the Government of India to:
· Shut down Polluting Factories that are violating the Supreme Court's directives on hazardous waste management;
· Rehabilitate and Remediate pollution-impacted workers, communities and environment;
· Hold corporations accountable and ensure that they invest in Clean Production practices; and
· Revamp the Pollution Control Boards to ensure greater accountability.
For further information, please contact:
Bidhan Chandra Singh, Toxics Campaigner, Greenpeace India Tel:
+91-9845535405, E-mail: 
Namrata Chowdhary, Media Officer, Greenpeace India Tel:
+91-9810850092, E-mail: 