The State government has taken a serious view of pollution allegedly caused by a bulk drug manufacturing unit at Kottapakala village in Tondangi Mandal of East Godavari district. The government would examine the issue and formulate a policy.
At a review meeting on fisheries on Friday, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the area in Todangi Mandal in East Godavari district was declared a hatcheries zone. The previous government, however, gave permission for pharma companies, which were causing pollution. The effluents directly enter the sea waters. Once an area is declared as hatchery zone, no other industries should be given permission in that area and keep it pollution free.
Caught in crosshairs
“The issue came to my notice when I was on padayatra in that area. Conduct a comprehensive study on the issue. A policy need not be evolved,” he said
It may be recalled that Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy, at a November 2016 public meeting in Danavaipeta, a coastal village, near the factory site demanded the then State government to take necessary steps to shift the pharma company to Visakhapatnam. He alleged that the government of the day unleashed repression against the villagers agitating against the proposed pharma unit belonging to Divi’s Laboratories there.
He said effluents from the pharma unit let out into the Bay of Bengal would contaminate seawater and endanger more than 200 shrimp hatcheries along the coast in the two Mandals of Thondangi and Uppada Kothapalli. “Divi’s Labs unit can be shifted to Visakhapatnam Pharma City where common effluent treatment facilities are available. Therefore, I appeal to Divi’s Labs to shift the unit,” he said then.
Opposition parties extended their support to the villagers who launched an agitation against the company.
