Residents of villages around a distillery near Mysore allege that effluents discharged by the unit have contaminated groundwater and rendered farming practically impossible in the area.
in NanjangudG.M. SOMANNA, a 32-year-old sugarcane farmer of Geekahalli village, 25 km from Mysore in Karnataka's Nanjangud taluk, would die rather than `surrender' his family's five acres (two hectares) of land to the neighbouring Gemini Distilleries Private Limited. Life for his family, as also for others in the area, has been a nightmare for over a decade on account of the spent wash (trade effluents) discharged from the distillery, which manufactures industrial alcohol and Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL). The distillery has been operating on the basis of a stay order obtained from the Karnataka High Court and, according to its officials, generates spent wash almost round the year at the rate of around 420 cubic metres every day.
Groundwater in the approximately 270 acres (108 ha) around the distillery, home to around 20,000 people, is a caramel brown in most places and can be tapped at a depth of six feet, as in Somanna's land. It is not potable and the people do not use it for agriculture. Being a highly irrigated area - two major irrigation canals flow nearby - the effluents make their way easily into the subsoil.
Farmers claim that since 1988, four years after the distillery was set up, yields of crops, mainly paddy and sugarcane, have been half of what they were earlier. The distillery authorities acknowledge the groundwater pollution and have for the past 11 years supplied drinking water in the area in tankers or through pipelines. The company claims that last September it cleared the crop loans of 13 farmers.
D.H. Prasanna Kumar, environmental executive of Gemini Distilleries, said that while in the past waste water was led into open un-terraced lagoons, "today it is processed through a methane digester". He explained: "We have also gone in for composting in a big way, using press mud, a waste product obtained during the crushing of sugarcane, to treat effluents. Our two lagoons have been lined with six-inch-thick concrete. In addition, we have submitted an Effluent Management Plan to the KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board)." He added that the "pollution levels are coming down."
According to M. Venugopal, director (works) of the distilleries, the seepage happened prior to 1990. "In a bid to help farmers in the areas that have been polluted, we have offered to buy the land from them," he said.
But Somanna, like other farmers, asks: "Why should we sell the lands that our families have tilled for generations?" The farmers want the distillery to be closed, a groundwater restoration programme put in place, and compensation paid for the financial losses they have suffered owing to the pollution.
The worst-affected areas stretches from Mahadevanagar across Geekahalli, Geekahallihundi, Golur, Kodi Naraspura and Vidyapeetha. Mullur, Bendagalli and Chinnagundihalli have been affected to a lesser extent. Entire villages get their daily supply of drinking water from the distillery and the people have got so used to it that they have learnt to take the pollution in their stride in return for `benefits' from the company, such as repairs to the local school building or financial grants during festivals or family functions.
"Why bother about borewells when Gemini is supplying us with water," said one resident, pointing to a rusted borewell hand-pump that is no longer used. "For irrigating our crops we get water from Beechanahalli." But others are not so happy. Said C. Prema: "Government veterinary doctors tell people from Geekahalli not to bring their cattle and livestock for treatment. And the stench from the distillery is nauseating." Others claim that their borewell hand-pumps have corroded and become unusable because of the effluents.
The company denies trying to buy out some of the villagers, but it is a fact that it has written to some residents cautioning them against farmers like Somanna. Some farmers told Frontline that the local panchayat had been coaxed into passing resolutions directing that no one from the village should speak to the press or complain against the distillery without the panchayat's permission.
Said Krishna, a farmer from Geekahalli: "Besides releasing effluents into open drains during the rainy season, the distillery has been dumping its effluents in our fields or in open drains at night. Tankers loaded with effluents can be seen moving on the Chamarajanagar road almost every night. They dump the waste on barren fields. In many cases, they take a signed statement from the landowner stating that he wants the effluents to be dumped on it. This is done after the owner is fraudulently convinced that the effluent is a good fertilizer."
Gemini denies doing this, but many fields in the vicinity of the distillery, at Badanaval, Madrahalli and Gontakala villages, bear telltale signs. The area where effluents have been dumped has turned hard like concrete, making it difficult to plough. Said S. Siddhashettar, a farmer from Madrahalli: "My tomato crop has been ruined because of the effluents. The tanker drivers told me that the effluents were good for my crop."
Officials of the distillery are of the view that the effluents are good liquid manure. Said Kumar: "Many agricultural universities have given us reports that the effluents are fit for use in fields. The KSPCB is also conducting tests to see whether the effluents are fit for use." But farmers are not convinced. Says one of them: "In an effort to convince us, Gemini tried to grow sugarcane on a two-acre plot next to the distillery. The experiment failed."
Banks do not give farmers agricultural loans because of poor yields. A letter dated 20-9-2003 from the Nanjungud branch of Indian Bank states that the bank is unable to consider loan applications from "Mahadev and others" of Geekahalli because "the soil and water are polluted (and) there is a possibility of crop loss (and) the estimated crop production is around 25 per cent of the expected yield."
For farmers in the affected area, the biggest culprit is the KSPCB. But Board officials say they cannot take action because of court orders. In August 1988, after receiving complaints, KSPCB officials inspected the distillery and issued it a notice, asking it to stop the discharge of pollutants. When it did not stop, in 1989 the Board filed a case against the distillery and three officials for offences punishable under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The Court of the Principal Civil Judge (Junior Division) & Additional Judicial Magistrate First Class, Nanjangud, delivered its verdict on June 24, 2003. The Judge found that the distillery continued to discharge effluents that did not conform to the standards specified by the Board under the consent order given to it; that it continued to discharge effluents in excess of the specified limits; that it had polluted neighbouring wells and borewells; and that senior officials of the company were liable to be convicted under the Water Act. The Judge sentenced the officials to two years in prison and fined the distillery Rs.5,000. Gemini appealed in the Sessions Court, Mysore.
In November 2001, farmers sought the intervention of the Karnataka Lokayukta, Justice N. Venkatachala. On November 10, the Lokayukta, along with the Chairman of the KSPCB, and a host of officials, visited the distillery and the farmlands in the vicinity. The Lokayukta's report states that while the quality of groundwater in the Nanjangud region is good, with the total dissolved solids ranging from 500 to 700 parts per million (ppm), subterranean water in the vicinity of Gemini Distilleries is alarmingly polluted. Water samples collected from ponds within the distillery premises and from open wells, borewells and surface water bodies showed that the pollution was in the form of colour, odour, dissolved solids, Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and ammonical nitrogen.
COD values of effluent samples drawn from the premises of the distillery were in excess of 52,000 milligrams per litre (mg/l) and BOD values were around 14,000 mg/l. Permissible limits of the two values for drinking purposes are less than 5 mg/l and 2 mg/l respectively. The Lokayukta found effluents flowing in open drains on government land and stored in over 100 unprotected lagoons. Analysis of water samples collected from nearby villages showed that "all the samples (were) not potable and as against the permissible limits of constituents (like calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, COD, BOD, etc.) in drinking water, the available constituents exceed those limits several hundred times".
The Lokayukta concluded that the "ecology in seven villages around Gemini in relation to subterranean water, wells and stagnant water in ponds and land depressions, [was] totally destroyed from the trade effluents of Gemini Distilleries". Venkatachala also took the KSPCB to task by stating that it had "done virtually nothing to prevent, control and abate environmental pollution caused in areas of the villages around Gemini Distilleries, and its negligent conduct throughout cannot but leave one in doubt that it has connived with the industry in allowing its pollutant discharges and emissions to continue unhindered."
He recommended to the State government that it direct the KSPCB to take steps to vacate the stay, restore the ecology of the villages and ensure that Gemini Distilleries pays compensation to the villagers. According to the report, the natural cleaning of pollutants in the area could take 10 to 15 years.
On November 19, the KSPCB Chairman ordered the closure of the Gemini Distilleries. The company challenged the move, contending that the Board could not act solely on the recommendations of the Lokayukta; that it was not within the Lokayukta's jurisdiction to pass such recommendations; and that it was already taking steps to restore the quality of groundwater. In November itself it obtained a stay from the Karnataka High Court.
On February 24, 2003, the court appointed four court commissioners to visit the area, and they submitted their report on April 16. The report states that "the groundwater in and around Gemini Distilleries is polluted to an extent of about three square kilometres in area with varying degrees and the composting yard is moderately and practically impervious". It adds that "since the pollution abatement systems have gradually been improved and adopted by the industry, keeping in line with upgraded technology, the intensity of pollutants in the subsoil and groundwater is on the receding trend over the years," and, finally, that "the water in the majority of open wells and borewells is fit for irrigation purposes".
GEMINI DISTILLERIES is not the only industry in Nanjangud taluk whose pollution control methods are being questioned. There are fears that the ethanol plant that Bannari Amman Sugars Limited has sought permission for at Alaganchi, close to Nanjangud town, will throw up similar problems. Residents in Mallupura said the stench and the ash generated by the sugar mill, which crushes around 5,500 tonnes of cane every day, was causing air pollution. They also alleged that Bannari Amman was mixing its ash with press mud (used as fertilizer) to dispose it of.
Says P. Manickavasagan, deputy general manager, Bannari Amman Sugars: "To contain the ash problem, in 2001 the mill installed specialised equipment at a cost of Rs.3 crores. It is the farmers themselves who besiege us for press mud and then dump it on the road until such time that they need it. (It usually takes around four to six months before it is ready for use.) The farmers in this area do not know how to use press mud." But Bannari Amman continues to get rid of 150 tonnes of press mud a day by offloading it to local farmers.
Residents of Kodihalli, 3 km from Nanjangud town, alleged that a plant of Jubilant Organosis, India's largest manufacturer of speciality chemicals, was causing air and water pollution. Though this correspondent saw no evidence of effluents being let out through the concrete channel that leads directly from the plant and flows through agricultural land, the air in the vicinity of the plant was filled with a nauseating smell. Residents complained that the management stored the effluents in a huge tank and released it through the channel during the rainy season. They also claimed that the air pollution caused bronchitis, nausea and nose bleeds.
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