Common Effluent treatment plant commissioned in Trichy

Tiruchi: Commissioning of Rs.2.8-crore Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at Tiruvalarchipatti by the Minister for Local Admnistration M.K. Stalin, has addressed the apprehension of locals about ground water contamination caused by effluent discharges from leather industries in Sembattu on the city outskirts.

He was accompanied by the Transport Minister K.N. Nehru, State Forests Minister N. Selvaraj, the Collector T. Soundiah, and other senior officials at a brief function.

Mr. Stalin had had taken personal interest in the progress of the CETP that was accorded a thrust about a year back after he had received representations from the locals of Tiruvalarchipatti where he had visited for a function.

Tannery owners had contributed Rs.1.78 crore while the State Government provided Rs. 75 lakh. The Centre had granted an investment subsidy of Rs. 27 lakh. Though the project was conceived in the early nineties, it did not materialise due to stringent pollution norms laid by the High Court due to which quite a number of tanneries had to close down. The CETP will cater to eight tanneries that process 18 tonnes of skins and hides a day. According to V. S.
M. Varis Mohideen, Secretary, Tiruchi Tanners’ Association (TTA), tanneries in the district were adopting East India Leather Technology process, using vegetable extracts for processing raw skins and hides. The TTA, he said, sought the Centre’s assistance for establishing a second treatment plant for treating effluent using reverse osmosis process, as advocated by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and reusing the treated water for industrial purpose.

Since the effluent discharge has come down to one-third, Mr. Mohideen urged the Minister to prevail upon the Tamil Nadu Water Supply and Drainage Board to arrange for diverting the treated effluent water to the drainage channels as in cities like Kanpur and Bangalore.

Due to the constraints, leather production in Tamil Nadu has come down by 50 per cent. Though permission was accorded for export of East India leather in 2000, there could be no progress due to burdening taxation of 15 per cent, he said, urging the State Government to come to the rescue of tanners of East India leather.