KOCHI: Once Chinese nets and fishermen catching fish using this traditional gear was a common sight in Eloor situated on the banks of the River Periyar.Fishery resources from this region used to be a major means of income for thousands of families belonging to this area.However, effluent discharge and indiscriminate sand mining in this portion of the river has made it almost lifeless.Backwater fishing is gradually vanishing from the region. Chinese nets too have almost disappeared. Due to the rise in pollution levels in the river and subsequent downfall in its fisheries wealth, many fishermen have been forced to indulge in illegal sand mining, which has deteriorated the situation.Industrial effluents, human and hospital wastes constitute the main pollutants in the river.Uncontrolled growth of duckweed and sand mining made the river change its course last September, causing destruction to many houses. Three families had to be shifted to refuge camp.Illegal sand mining and high pollution levels in the river have destoyed the ecological balance in the area.The Periyar, the longest river in the state, is known as the lifeline of Kerala. But nowadays, the river is making news for being the most polluted river in South India. Eloor island on the banks of the River Periyar is home to more than 200 chemical industries, including the only DDT-producing facility in India.Most of these industries have been functioning for the past 50 years and use obsolete and polluting technologies. The Central Pollution Control Board has identified 24 spots in the country where industrial and anthropogenic activities are concentrated and cause rigorous environmental degradation. Green Peace India describes the lower Periyar as a “cesspool of toxins”, which has alarming levels of deadly effluents like DDT, endosulfan, lead, cyanide sulphide and chloride. Toxic heavy metals, chemicals and radioactive elements have been detected in the air, soil and water on the banks of the river.A dumping yard near the Kalammassery railway station was functioning against the Supreme Court’s directions, said Eloor Purushan, environmentalist and former member of a monitoring committee constituted for environmental protection here. Effluents from the yard drain into the river through the Thumbungal Canal.Last week, the Periyar River Inland Fisheries District Coordination Committee submitted a mass petition to District Collector Sheik Pareeth demanding compensation under the Public Liability Compensation Act for the destruction of fisheries in the river. Thousands of petitions of fishermen were handed over to the Collector in the presence of labour union representatives.
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