SIPCOT Residents Protest Setting of New Chemical Industries in their Village
Cuddalore, 22 August 2008: More than 100 residents from SIPCOT villages including Eachangadu, Sonanchavadi and Semmankuppam organized a protest meeting opposite the Collector's office to express their opposition to Government's move of setting up new chemical and polluting units in their villages. Recent records and reports indicate that Cuddalore residents are 2000 times more likely to contract cancer in their lifetimes. Read More...

SIPCOT Cuddalore Gets a Surprise Visit from Higher Officials; Errant Units Under Scanner
Cuddalore, 20 August 2008: SIPCOT Cuddalore got a surprise visit from a high powered team of Tamil Nadu government including the Industry Secretary M. F. Farooqui, Energy Secretary Smita Nagraj, Chairperson of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) R. Balakrishnan, Member Secretary of TNPCB R. Rmachandran and the District Collector and District Revenue Officer (DRO) of Cuddalore. Read More...

Arrest: police officer clarifies
CUDDALORE, Aug 14, 2008: Superintendent of Police Pradip Kumar has clarified that 30 members of the CITU, who had gathered in defiance to the police direction in front of Pioneer Chemicals at SIPCOT Industrial Estate while labour issues were being tackled on Monday, were arrested and released on bail the same day. Read Media Story...

Police Lathicharge on Striking Workers of Pioneer Miyagi; At least 15 Injured
Cuddalore, 12 August 2008: The Cuddalore police lathicharged more than 300 workers of CITU Union from Pioneer Miyagi yesterday for blocking the entrance of the unit while on strike. Read More...

Chemical company workers to observe fast
CUDDALORE, 28 July 2008: More than 300 workers of Pioneer Miyagi Chemicals Ltd, SIPCOT Industrial Estate, Semmankuppam, near here, who are now resorting to an indefinite strike from July 12, have threatened to observe a fast on Tuesday. Read Media Story...

Mercury Menace
Kodaikanal, 19 July 2008 S Sivaganam, R Vijayalakshmi, Peter Sunderajan, Christopher Coldcraft, Panneer Selvaram, J Sudhakaran, Neelavanan, Ramachandran, P Natrajan, S Palniswamy, Ganna Sundri, G Ruthpriya, C Carmel, Margaret, E Ramesh Selvapandiyan... They are not just residents of Kodaikanal. Read Media Story...

Salem District Residents Use RTI to Demand Transparency of TNPCB
Salem, 15 July 2008: – Around 50 people, agitated by the lack of transparency and large-scale irregularities in the functioning of the Tamilnadu Pollution Control Board, today filed RTI applications at the District Environmental Engineer's office. Read More...

Accident at the Chemplast Site in Cuddalore; One Worker Dead Another Seriously Injured
Cuddalore, 15 July 2008: One contract worker lost his life while another was seriously injured in an accident while the construction of the PVC plant of Chemplast Sanmar in Cuddalore. 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...