Rampant pharma pollution, a disaster in the making 

Over the past three decades in the aftermath of Bhopal gas tragedy despite clear symptoms about disasters waiting to happen, ruling establishments and the departments concerned have been in too deep a state of slumber to act with alacrity on loud and frequent wake-up calls.

An attitude often substantiated by the post-mortem carried out after the damage assumes a point of no return. Hyderabad, flaunted as the bulk drug capital of India, is literally sitting on a pollution bomb with many of the industries operating here in the city and on its outskirts in Medak blatantly flouting rules and norms.

Telangana, especially Hyderabad, has the dubious distinction of occupying top position in the list of highest pollution causing industries across the country. According to Central Pollution Control Board, Telangana has 59 such highly polluting industries of which 45 are located in Hyderabad.

Pharma sector is a big foreign exchange earner for the country – to the tune of around $15 billion to $20 billion – with Hyderabad contributing a considerable chunk of exports. There is a good demand for Indian manufactured generics in the United States and companies out there outsource their requirements for bulk drugs and finished dosage formulations.

This demand has triggered inevitable proliferation of innumerable bulk drug, formulations, active pharma ingredients and a surfeit of bits and pieces chemical players – all totalling around 2000 units – with some of them having their own markets and many others catering to the needs of Indian majors which have their own footprints on foreign soil.

Though everything is hunky dory, specifically in terms of the industry raking in the dollars, justifiable fears exist about the potential pollution hazards that come with the gains. One very pertinent question is about the motive of American companies in outsourcing the manufacture of the drugs to India and also procuring finished products from the country.

Critics and environmentalists are of the view that the intention is to use India as the backyard and dumping ground for production of pharma products. For the United States, it is like killing two birds with one stone i.e., the country has dual advantage in outsourcing manufacture of drugs to India. This arrangement with Indian manufacturers not only ensures that the United States can keep their own environment and premises pollution-free, but also enables them to achieve this objective at a considerably cheaper cost.

The Americans are also aware about lax attitude of the Indian authorities towards pollution concerns and that setting up a pollution-causing industry in the country is as easy as setting up a grocery shop. Corruption rules and licences or permissions can be had for the asking with no questions asked – of course, with obvious benefits attached.

Hyderabad has already started experiencing the deleterious impact of the pharma industries emitting toxic emissions into the atmosphere and spewing venom into water sources. The authorities for reasons known only to them prefer to ignore the absence of effluent treatment plants in the pharma industries and gross violation of pollution prevention regulations. Many of the pollution perpetrators are resorting to promiscuous dumping of chemical waste.

Patancheru, one of the most polluted locations in India, stands as a glaring testimony to the impact of the untrammelled dumping of hazardous waste by the industries. Meanwhile, the Pollution Control Board continues to be a in blissful snooze – while we inhale the omnipresent and pervasive pollutants and noxious emissions in the environment – preferring to wake up only after disaster strikes.

By Satyapal Menon