Several pollution issues stare the residents of the city, the biggest urban conglomeration adjacent to the proposed capital region. Concerns expressed by citizens on the eve of the World Pollution Day on December 2 notwithstanding, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) continues its lead as the biggest polluter of water.
Untreated sewage is dumped into the three canals that transect the city into pieces, at 52 points — 32 into Bandar Canal, 12 into Eluru Canal and eight into Ryve’s Canal. A huge quantity of sewage is dumped directly into the Krishna River upstream Prakasam Barrage.
CPI (M) corporator Ch. Babu Rao told The Hindu that there has been no progress whatsoever with regard to checking pollution of Krishna River and the three irrigation canals which were a source of drinking water to Eluru Town and hundreds of villages in the Krishna and West Godavari districts. Most of the sewage treatment plants linked to the underground drainage are reportedly not working to their full capacity.
“The ruling party are now harping on sending a report to the Central government seeking financial assistance to overcome the problem. Besides this, there are no other efforts to rectify the pollution problem,” Mr Babu Rao said.
Environmentalists have been pointing out that the air and groundwater pollution caused by the Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS) was resulting in crop loss and there is a possibility of Mercury from the fly-ash polluting both the Krishna River and groundwater. Activists of the National Alliance of People’s Movements have also opposed a Titanium Dioxide plant that would soon come up at Gudimetla village in Chandarlapadu mandal upstream Prakasam barrage.
They cited the poor record of such plants in other part of the country.
Krishna River, according to the Central Pollution Control Board, is in the list of rivers in which the Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) is on the rise. “While most of the elected representatives are oblivious to these facts, officials have chosen to be “silent spectators” to the slow poisoning of the environment,” said K. Vikram Rao, an environmental activist.
