Eloor’s residents try to save river, officials deny problems

Eloor smells like it is dying. “Some of the early protest leaders are now bedridden” in advanced age, Mooppan said, emphasising just how long people in the community have been trying to get the river cleaned up. It cited studies going back to 2005, carried out by the environmental non-profit group Thanal, that showed “hundreds of people living near Kuzhikandam Creek at Eloor were afflicted with various diseases such as cancer, congenital birth defects, bronchitis, asthma, allergic dermatitis, nervous disorders and behavior changes.” The court cited another survey of 327 families in the region that showed hazardous chemicals, including DDT, hexachlorocyclohexane, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, toluene, manganese and nickel had been discharged into Kuzhikandam Creek “and adversely affected the health condition of people in Eloor.” Kumar said the remedy for this pollution is onsite treatment at each facility, and it comes down to money. The Pollution Control Board responded that it recently began a study that could lead to curbing air pollution and reducing the intolerable stench in the area largely caused, it said, by bone meal fertilizer factories and meat rendering plants. “What’s the point of having all the money in the world and no water to drink?” Omana Manikuttan, a long-time resident of Eloor, said for years she and her neighbours have not eaten fish from the river.