Construction of Thermal Plant brought to a halt
08 May 2008, Chennai/Salem: All activities at the coal based captive power plant owned by Chemplast Sanmar Limited in Mettur came to a standstill after the Environment Appellate Authority passed an order on May 6th 2008 directing the company to stop construction and operation at the plant. Read More...

Worker dies in an accident inside SPIC Pharma Cuddalore, 3 May 2005: Murugavel, a contract worker from Chennai at SPIC Pharma died after meeting with an accident inside the factory yesterday. Read More...

Permission to Chemplast for VCM Pipeline across Uppanar Cancelled
Cuddalore, April 17, 2008: The Public Works Department (PWD) has cancelled the permission granted to Chemplast Sanmar's PVC Plant at SIPCOT Cuddalore for laying a pipeline to convey Vinyl Chloride Monomer (VCM) across Uppanar River. Read More...

Mettur villagers stage rally against illegal coal yard
Mettur, 15 April, 2008: The Gonur West Agriculturalists Development Union (GWADU) organized a protest rally, demanding a stop to the construction and operation of Chemplast Sanmar's coal yard at the Mettur Railway Station. Read More...

Illegal Discharge: Pioneer Miyagi apprehended
Cuddalore, April 14, 2008 -- Barely two weeks after Cuddalore industries were given a dressing down by Member of Parliament and DMK leader K. Kanimozhi, Pioneer Miyagi -- a Semmankuppam-based gelatin manufacturer -- was caught discharing toxic effluents into a canal and the Uppanar river today. Read More...

Kanimozhi pulls up polluting industries in Cuddalore
CUDDALORE, April 8 2008 : Rajya Sabha MP and daughter of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Kanimozhi, pulled up the management of the chemical industrial SIPCOT estate for causing adverse impact onthe environment and people in the coastal town. Read media story...

Kanimozhi makes surprise visit to industrial units
CUDDALORE, April 8, 2008: Kanimozhi, MP, made a surprise visit to the SIPCOT Industrial Estate on Monday, following complaints of pollution hazards posed by certain chemical units there. Read media story...

Operation of Illegal Thermal Power Plant in Mettur stopped
Salem, 25 March, 2008: On 24th March the Environment Appellate Authority ordered Chemplast Sanmar Ltd, Mettur to stop construction or operation of their illegal thermal power plant. Read More...

Poison in the air

ASHA KRISHNAKUMAR
in Cuddalore
Frontline
The Hindu
04 June, 2005

Poisonous gases released into the air by some chemical units in the SIPCOT industrial estate in Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, continue to endanger the lives and livelihoods of people in a number of villages in the absence of government action.

At the SIPCOT industrial estate in Cuddalore. Gases released by chemical units have severely affected the air quality in the area.

VILLAGES in the industrial area on the outskirts of Cuddalore town in Tamil Nadu are increasingly being identified more by pungent smells than their names - smells of rotten cabbage, burnt rubber, rotten egg, neem, detergent, human excreta, decomposing bodies, mosquito coils, rotting bones, decaying chikoo fruit, and nail polish. The smells come from toxic chemical compounds that are manufactured or released as effluents by the 18 companies in the industrial area and which have been damaging the environment and the health of more than 20,000 people in about 20 villages. Read more...