Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday announced a solution package for the Noyyal river pollution problem caused by dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur.
Announcing the package after holding discussion with the representatives of farmers and the industry at the Secretariat here, the Chief Minister said the government would provide an interest-free loan of Rs. 200 crore for adopting a technological option in common effluent treatment plants to achieve zero liquid discharge.
[As a sequel to an order of the Madras High Court in January 2011, all Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and 754 bleaching and dyeing units in Tirupur were closed down.]
On an experimental basis, after treating 20 per cent reject, re-use of brine was being attempted in a CETP being run by the Tamil Nadu Water Investment Corporation at Arulpuram.
As of now, no such technology is used anywhere. It would take a couple of months to explore whether the Arulpuram model could be replicated in other CETPs.
The nanotechnology applied in Bharuch of Gujarat, she said, had brought down the quantum of reject to seven per cent which was eventually re-used.
A team of officials of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Handlooms and Textiles Department and dyeing and bleaching industry would visit Gujarat this week to see whether this technology could be applied in Tirupur.
To adopt either of the technological options, a sum of Rs. 10 crore would be needed for each CETP. A decision would be taken in two months to select the suitable option. Steps would be taken to install further equipment at the plants. The period of trial run would be three months. On the basis of recommendation of the monitoring committee constituted by the Madras High Court, the Pollution Control Board would give permission for the resumption of operations of the CETPs.
Referring to compensation to farmers, Ms. Jayalalithaa stated that of the penalty of Rs. 37.11 crore collected towards relief to farmers and cleaning of the Orathupalayam reservoir subsequent to the October 2006 Madras High Court order, 17,758 farmers were given Rs. 11.96 crore and the Public Works Department Rs.6.77 crore for the reservoir.
