NGT pulls up PCBs for lack of action against pollution of Periyar

NGT criticizes PCBs for inaction on Periyar pollution, questions discrepancies in reports, and demands accountability from industries

The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has pulled up the Central and State Pollution Control Boards (PCBs) for lack of action against incidents of pollution in the Periyar.

The Bench comprising Pushpa Sathyanarayana, Judicial Member, and Satyagopal Korlapati, Expert Member, recalled that the tribunal had already passed an order dated May 27, 2022 that covered the overall pollution issues related to the Periyar and the remediation projects to be initiated.

“If the directions were already given by this tribunal, we are surprised why the Kerala State Pollution Control Board and the Central Pollution Control Board have not taken care and allowed the further mass fish kill on May 21, 2024 after two years. There is also a monitoring committee constituted by the tribunal in this regard,” said an order issued by the Bench on August 20 in the suo motu case registered by it based on The Hindu report ‘Another mass fish kill in Periyar river in Kerala after suspected effluent release’ published on May 21.

The Bench observed that the study by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos), which probed the mass fish kill on May 21, was said to be contradictory with the report of the State Pollution Control Board.

A preliminary report by Kufos on the mass fish kill reported along the Eloor-Edayar stretch of the Periyar on May 20 and 21 had revealed highly toxic levels of ammonium and hydrogen sulphide in water samples collected for analysis.

The Bench asked the Central PCB to explain the contradictions in the report of the State board. “As the monitoring committee had already directed the industries concerned in the catchment area near the Periyar to adopt the zero liquid discharge system, let the report also give particulars about the industries operating in the catchment area, their method of discharging effluents, and the level of contamination in the Periyar,” it said. The tribunal suo motu impleaded Kufos and the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in the case.