Coir business to be hit as TNPCB puts it in polluting industry category

Pollachi: The coir industry at Pollachi in Tamil Nadu will be affected after the Tamil Nadu State Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) reclassified it from white to orange which places it in the category of polluting industries.

Environmentalists had earlier moved the Madras High Court and the National Green Tribunal, South Indian Bench stating that coir was a polluting industry and a license should be made mandatory for the industry.

The Madras High Court and the NGT directed the TNPCB to reclassify the coir industry under polluting industries, which was done. Earlier, the coir industry was categorised under the White segment which means that no inspection was required for operating a coir factory in Tamil Nadu.

TNPCB officials told IANS: "The reclassification was done on November 10 and was based on the directive from the Madras High Court and the NGT. All coir industries functioning in the state would be periodically monitored hereafter and stringent action would be taken against the industries if any violations are found."

Parambikkulam Aliyar Irrigation project planning chairman K. Paramsivam, while speaking to media persons, said, "Coir industries in the Parambikkulam Aliyar basin are drawing water illegally to clean the coconut husk and are discharging effluents."

He said that the order of the TNPCB would regulate the use of water from the project. The coir sector is worried over the TNPCB directive and said that the High Court order will sound the death knell for the coir industry in the state.

Mathew John of Standard Coir exporters, Pollachi told IANS: "We shifted base from Kerala where the government put us in the red category.

In Tamil Nadu, the sector was under White category but after the directive from the Madras High Court it is now classified under Orange sector which means a license from TNPCB is required for the coir industry to operate in Tamil Nadu."