The Thirumurganpoondi town panchayat will soon lose the ‘sculpture cluster’ tag as the entire 116 sculpture units in the cluster would be relocated due to complaints of air and noise pollution.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had given the sculptors the option to either relocate or close the units.
The sculptors have informed the board that they would relocate.
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The sculptors have identified seven places for relocation.
Official sources said that a piece of land at ‘A. Kurumbapalayam’ near Cheyur has been allotted to them.
“We have been forced to ask the sculptors to relocate as the units are now in thickly populated areas. The air pollution in the locality had exceeded the permissible limits of 100 parts per million,” said TNPCB District Environmental Engineer K. Senthilvinayakam.
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The ‘fugitive emissions’ from the units because of the stone dust was causing respiratory problems for the people in locality according to the studies conducted by TNPCB.
At ‘A. Kurumbapalayam’, there are no houses within 1 km radius, the officials said.
Once moved to ‘A. Kurumbapalayam’, the sculptors would have to put in place pollution control devices like wet scrubbers and dust collectors, officials added.