Revoke consent to operate to HUL Kodaikanal manufacturing unit, say activists
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Company says all actions on the web site being carried out as per tips and permissions issued by the NGT, the TNPCB and the CPCB
The State Department for Environment and Climate Change ought to direct the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board to revoke the Consent to Operate (CTO) given to Hindustan Unilever for non-compliance with the order of the National Green Tribunal and working the Kodaikanal thermometer manufacturing unit with out legitimate Hazardous Waste Authorisation, environmental activists have demanded.
In a letter to V. Meyyanathan, Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Youth Welfare and Sports Development, Nityanand Jayaraman of the Chennai Solidarity Group and Navroz Mody, member of the Local Area Environment Committee, Kodaikanal, requested the Tamil Nadu authorities to fee an intensive web site evaluation and ecological danger evaluation examine and prosecute HUL for offences below varied environmental legal guidelines.
In the letter, they stated the corporate was presently engaged in unauthorised decontamination of mercury-contaminated soil at its manufacturing unit web site. “The said operations are illegal as they are in violation of the order of the NGT. In the interest of a full-and-final cleanup, it is essential to ensure full compliance with the NGT’s orders and to satisfy oneself that the quality of the operations protect the interests of the State. Unsupervised, unauthorised and unscientific intervention will leave Tamil Nadu saddled with a legacy contaminated site like Bhopal,” they stated.
HUL, nonetheless, refuted the allegations and stated the soil remediation was being carried out after the NGT and the Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for it. The firm stated all actions on the web site had been being carried out as per tips, relevant requirements and permissions issued by the NGT, the TNPCB and the CPCB.
Enclosing a replica of the NGT order, the activists stated HUL has been working the plant since August 2020 with out legitimate Hazardous Waste Authorisation. Two years for the reason that [NGT] order, an in depth web site evaluation and ecological danger evaluation — which mustn’t take greater than two months — has not but been carried out, they stated.
The firm, nonetheless, stated the examine acquired delayed due to the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19. “It is pertinent to mention that the study has two parts — one set of samples that need to be collected pre-monsoon and the second set to be collected post-monsoon. Hence, the claim that the study could be completed in less than two months, is incorrect,” HUL stated.
“Excavated soil with high mercury concentration — a hazardous waste — has reportedly been stored in the open in violation of Consent to Operate issued by TNPCB. If this is the case, mercury is being made available for release into Pambar Shola and Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary,” the activists stated within the letter including that the case of Sterlite [in Thoothukudi] was being repeated right here as TNPCB remained a lax regulator.
HUL refuted the allegation and stated that utmost care was being taken to forestall any launch of soil exterior of the manufacturing unit boundary supported by the retaining partitions and silt traps which have been set-up. “Any hazardous waste generated during remediation will be disposed of only after receiving the Hazardous Waste Authorisation”, the corporate stated.
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