Nitta
Gelatin pollution issue Kanthikulam ,Trichur District Kerala
Kathikudam, a small and beautiful village in Trichur District
Kerala
Nitta
Gelatin India Limited (NGIL), Originally christened as Kerala
Chemicals & Proteins (KCPL) is a joint venture between Kerala
State Industrial Development Corporation and two renowned Japanese
companies - Nitta Gelatin and Mitsubishi Corporation. It
produces ossein, a chemical used to manufacture gelatin
.Company incorporated with japanese company and started operation in
1979 . It produces Ossien from the bones of slaughtered animals, is
causing pollution in the entire area, extending more than ten square
kilometers. , as the polluted Chalakudy River flows through, six
Grama Panchayat areas. The innocent villagers who live away from the
company, surrender to death, without knowing the extent of danger,
the pollution creates as the company discharges its deadly hazardous
effluents directly in to Chalakudy River, through
secret pipes. The effluents discharged into the river
contains decomposed particles of flesh, marrow and bones, produced
after the preliminary process of washing the bones in water and
hydrochloric acid, and other hazardous chemicals, and also the sludge
produced after the remaining subsequent processes. ‘Sludge’ is a
grease-like effluent which floats in the water, and also very
difficult to handle and hard to dry out. These effluents have a
nasty smell, and it spreads a foul odour, even kilometers. It all
become clear when fish began to die and float on River “Chalakkudy”
river.
'Ossien' is the
raw material used in the production of gelatin. About hundred and
twenty tones of bones are crushed into pieces and washed every day.
More than sixty tons of effluents are produced when the bones are
washed in the water and hydrochloric acid. 1,20,000 litres of
hydrochloric acid per day are used during this process. 62,90,200
liters of water is used for this purpose, as per official records.
The water consumption may exceed up to 2 crores litres per day. The
company takes water from the river without any permission from the
local Panchayat. As a result of this exploitation of water, the
farmers are facing severe scarcity of water during summer season,
making the cultivation a heavy loss.
The company started with
promise of jobs and prosperity to the villagers . Now the people
realise that the promises given by the company were false, and
they are cheated. The company promised job for thousands, but
gave job only for 112 people. They conquered the land, confiscated
the most valuable property air, water and the earth, leaving the
people behind in total frustration. Reason for the huge mass support
.
Due to the air
pollution the entire area is filled with a nasty smell throughout
.. It spreads about ten square kilometers. Women and children are
mainly the victims of this foul odor. Women wake up during late
hours of night, nursing their children who are struggling to get
their breath. Suffocation caused by lack of oxygen and fresh air due
to pollution aggravates the problem. Majority of the people are from
the low income group and they spend a major share of their
income to meet their hospital expenses, leaving the entire
family into starvation.
The company digs deep
trenches and disposes the sludge into it, as it produces 60 tones
of sludge everyday. It pollutes and spoils the groundwater making
the well water of the entire village unfit for drinking. The
sludge is again transported to different parts of the country to
fill lands without the permission of the authorities and without the
knowledge of the public. They sell the same to innocent people as
manure and cheat them widely.
The research and surveys
conducted revealed several shocking facts. A number of people of
this village have died of cancer for the last few years.
Several others are undergoing treatment for cancer. The air
pollution creates patients of Asthma, Bronchitis, Lungs Cancer and
other respiratory problems. The polluted water and air causes skin
diseases, learning deficiency in children, retardation both physical
and mental, infertility and various other major diseases.
Thousands of people were
depending Chalakudy River for their bathing and washing of clothes
etc. But now, scaring serious skin diseases nobody is going near the
river. Still a number of drinking water project are existing on the
banks of this river. Some of the pumping stations are situated near
the company effluent’s outlet. A number of irrigation schemes also
exist here.
The state pollution
control Board is keeping silence to this serious issue allowing
innumerable innocents surrender to death day by day. An action
council has formed to fight against this evil Let me quote the
Company report from it's web site ---Quote “
It produces ossein,
a chemical used to manufacture gelatin (mostly for photographic use)
and dicalcium phosphate (used in animal feed) from crushed animal
bones. It began commercial production in 1979. The plant capacity to
manufacture ossien was initially 3300 tpa and that of DCP was 6700
tpa. Ossein capacity was increased to 5000 tpa and of DCP to 11000 in
1992-93. In 1993-94, the company undertook a project for liming of
ossein. In 1995-96, the first phase of the liming project was
completed. The company is setting up a unit for the manufacture of
2000-tpa gelatine with the technical collaboration of Nitta Gelatin,
Japan. The project cost is Rs 70 cr. For the third time in
succession, the company received the Top Export Award for Ossein for
1994-95 from CAPEXIL. During 1996-97, the trial project of Liming Of
Ossein was restarted on Feb.'97 with an installed capacity of 5 MT
per day, due to delay in the previous year. The Gelatine project is
also under implementation due to delay in respect of the land
acquired, but since the company has received allotment of 13 acre
plot for the project in the KINFRA Export Promotion Industrial Park
in Kakkanadu. Trial run production of Limed Ossein commenced in
Feb.'97 and the construction of the Gelatine Project was completed as
per schedule. A new subsidiary by name of Bamni Protiens Pvt. Ltd was
incorporated in Dec.'97 with an authorised capital of Rs 300 lakhs.
During 1998-99, the company's Ossein division got ISO 9002
certification from KEMA, Netherland. Also 2000MT “ UN-quote
Most of the
data is being supplied by the Action council and C.R Neelakandan is
leading them , today (21/07/2013 ) there was a large protest march
and Dhar-na in front of the factory .
GKP
Ref:
1. http://www.change.org/petitions/ban-ngil
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