Nitta Gelatin India Ltd,Chalakkudi-Kerala

The Chalakkudi river was one of the purest until at least 1960 Since a long time agitation from the local people is going on in full swing protesting against the emission of effluent chemical parts into the river &polluting it thereby making it detrimental to the human life& agriculture in the sorrounding areas The agitation is being staged against NGIL functioning there. Let us have a glance to the background of how this company was established in Chalakkudi. It is understood that the Company was set up in 1975 in the Joint Sector by M/S.KeralaState Industrial Development Corporation(KSDIC)&Nitta inc.,Japan The Company started Commercial Production in the year 1979.It produces/manufactures Gelatin,Collagen,Peptide,OSSEIN, and DiCalcium Phosphate The company had employes more than 350 people&exported products to Japan to earn foreign exchange to the tune of Rs 100 crores every year.Thus it happened to be a major source of revenue in those days. This it appears continued being continued from years to year. In the olden days ,it appears to me,that Kerala used to get enormous amount of water from rains with the help of the gifted environmental richness &availability of heavy Rains throughout 3 seasons of Edavappathi,the great Monsoon&Thulavarsham.Thus water was plenty in Kerala and the rivers &lakes passing through Kerala.as a result the rivers,Lakes &even ponds were all overflowing without allowing any kind of shortage.This was a Blessings from Nature .No river or lakes got polluted as the running water cleaned the rivers by depositing unwanted materials in in the seas . So the pollutuion&its severe effects were not felt by people&the health hazards were not known. This perhaps helped the Nita Jalatin to go on &on with their business without interruption or threat from any source. However,in 1996 the effects of pollution(ie after a period of the company's existenceof almost 25 years)was felt by many&the company was approached by a group of people called JANANEETHI with complaint of Industrial Pollution of the area &illeffects of the pollution by the Kerala Chemicals &Proteins Limitted to address their problem. The company had to approach the Court. Thereafter,many commitees,Experts,Volounteen Organisation all tried to study &sort out the issue.All the efforts were futile&invain without allowing any relief to the agony of people of Chalakkudi&the sorroundings for the last many years. As no doors were opened inspite of the efforts from various organisations&experts to solve the burning problem of there was no other way other than agitation .The agitations organised from time to time. Finally the people of Chalakkudi& everyone else who shared the views of C halakkudi decided as a last resort to stopthe activities by damaging the Gigantic pipes that connects the factory to the river. This action from the people can not be considered as an offenmjsive actionas the plea from them from time imemorial were all fell in deaf ears of the authorities who are supposed to help them. Recently the Government Home department tried to stop the agitation by force& arresting many a people involved in the agitation.They wereeven put behind bars. Finally the High court of Kerala observed the illegal way of stopping people who were agitating for a noble cause. This observation from court ,though does not appear to have provided any kind of relief to the people there is still a ray of hope for the people that some favourable proceedure would be worked out with a view to closing the actvities of the Factory of Nita Jalatin. High court has specifically pointed out that,suppressing the people who are involved in agitation for a noble cause, by force can not be justified. Let us hope for a better tomorrow. SreedharanMundanat 31st July2013 18-05Hrs(IST)