The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has directed the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and the Dindigul District Collector to file report within six weeks on the steps taken and action initiated in connection with the, now closed, Hindustan Unilever’s clinical thermometer plant in Kodaikanal. After a long pause, a new study carried out by a Chennai-based NGO in the vicinity of the clinical thermometer factory suggested threat to the environment due to the mercury dump. The samples collected in April this year and sent for tests indicated contamination.
When contacted, Ponds Hindustan Ex-Mercury Employees Association general secretary S. Raja Mohammed said on Friday that they welcomed the suo motu order passed by the SHRC. “It is better late than never. At least now, we hope, the TNPCB authorities would begin the clean-up act and respect justice.”
The neglect of the appeals in the past by the employees and supported by eco activists had not been taken in the right perspective by the HUL. The TNPCB too had not executed the clean-up act as directed by the court in the past. The NGO, which had now claimed to have found high levels of toxic mercury in vegetation and sediment collected in the vicinity even after the closure of the plant itself was sufficient to prove that it was dangerous to people, Mr. Raja Mohammed said.
