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Friday, 13 February 2015

RDO Checks CETP for Violation

By Express News Service

Published: 14th February 2015 06:05 AM

Last Updated: 14th February 2015

VELLORE: The Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) of Tirupattur D Rengarajan inspected the Vaniyambadi Tanners Enviro Control Systems (Vanitec) on Friday to check any violations in the plan of the facility.

The inspection comes in the wake of the major accident that happened in the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) of Ranipet SIDCO Finished Leather Effluent Treatment Company in SIDCO Industrial Estate on January 31.

Ten workers, including nine from West Bengal, of R K Leather Factory, were killed after tonnes of toxic slurry from an unauthorised Secure Land Fill (SLF) of the adjacent CETP flooded its premises.

Following the accident, the district administration directed all RDOs to inspect the effluent treatment plants in their respective jurisdiction to ensure there is no violation in the operations of the facilities.

“We checked if there is any deviation in the plan in the construction of the facility. We also inspected if they are sticking to the rules and regulations,” Rengarajan said. Experts from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board would also inspect the facility and two other CETPs in Ambur soon.

EXPRESS IMPACT: Finally, Aid Reaches SIDCO Victim’s Doorsteps

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 14th February 2015 06:05 AM

Last Updated: 14th February 2015

VELLORE: District Collector R Nanthagopal on Friday visited the family of the victim of the Ranipet tannery tragedy and handed over solatium of `7 lakh, two days after Express published a report that officials have turned their backs on them.

Accompanied by a team of revenue officials, the Collector called on Geetha, wife of the victim, Sampath, and his mother at their house in Melvallam near Kaniyambadi. He handed over the cheque for `seven lakh, which was given by the management of Ranipet SIDCO Finished Leather Effluent Treatment Company. The solatium of `three lakh from the State government is yet to be released. A senior revenue official said the amount would be released soon.

The Express report, published on February 11, highlighted how not a single official from the district administration had reached out to the kin of KG Sampath, who was the breadwinner of the family. He was one among the 10 workers of R K Leather Factory buried alive when hundreds of tonnes of toxic slurry flooded the company’s premises after an unauthorised Secure Land Fill (SFL) of the CETP of Ranipet SIDCO Finished Leather Effluent Treatment Company collapsed on January 31.

Thanking Express for the report, Geetha said Vellore Tahsildar and other officials visited them after the news was published. “I have requested the Collector to grant me a government job to support the family and raise my children. He has assured to take necessary action,” said Geetha, who has studied up to Class XII. She is now determined to continue her studies to get a government job. “My husband’s dream was to make our daughters a Collector and doctor, and our son a police officer. I will do all it takes to make that come true,” she added.

Thursday, 12 February 2015

1.2K Tonnes of Sludge Moved Out of SIDCO

VELLORE: The TNPCB has dispatched around 1,200 tonnes of dry sludge from the recent accident site in SIDCO to the Tamil Nadu Waste Management Limited in Gummidipoondi. “So far, 70 loads of dry sludge weighing around 1,200 tonnes have been removed from the (Secured Land Fill) SLF-I of the CETP and transported to the common facility in Gummdipoondi,” District Environmental Engineer, Vellore, A Shanmugam told Express.

It would take around 10 days to remove the remaining slurry. “So far, around 2,200 tonnes of slurry that spread over the premises of R K Tannery, I V Leathers and Kamatchi Fabrication and SIDCO Road after SLF-II caved in, have been removed. Another 1,000 tonnes of slurry is yet to be removed from the damaged SLF-II,” he said.

TNPCB officials have instructed the management of the company to store the slurry in earthen pits dug up in its premises.

“After it turns into dry sludge, it will be transported to the common facility in Gummidipoondi,” he added. In total 5,000 tonnes of sludge have been removed from one of the Secure Land Fills of the Common Effluent Treatment Plant of Ranipet SIDCO Finished Leather Treatment Company, in the aftermath of the tannery tragedy that killed 10 workers on January 31.

Wednesday, 11 February 2015

Documents Forged After Tragic SIDCO Deaths?

Last Updated: 11th February 2015VELLORE: In the aftermath of the Ranipet tragedy that claimed the lives of 10 workers in the premises of the SIDCO Industrial estate factory, nine of whom were from West Bengal, officials have yet to come to grips with implementing measures that are already in place and instituting further measures to ensure that accidents such as this one do not occur in the future.

The problems are pervasive and systemic and include routine exploitation of migrant workers, flouting rules of safety for protecting workers and widespread corruption allowing officials to disregard rules.

According to official figures, there are more than 5,000 migrant workers employed in the leather and tannery factories in the SIDCO Industrial Estate. The migrant workers should be properly registered by the authorities as per the Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act 1979. The fact finding team has indicated that officials attached to the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health have hurriedly registered the migrant workers who died after the tragic accident, manipulating documents clearly flouting rules. “We suspect that the records were created in a hurry after the accident. The nine workers had been working in the factory over six months, but officials created the registration documents stating they were new employees,” claimed a member of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO) Professor A Marx, who led the four member fact-finding committee.

Marx said the employers were exploiting migrant workers as cheap labour, taking advantage of their poverty, compromising on safety regulations and the health of the workers.

“The management of the factory forced the workers to sleep inside the premises. It is a clear violation of the rules framed under the Central Government’s Act. They are also being paid poorly (between `5000 and `6000 per month). They work and live amidst toxic waste,” he said.

The Deputy Director of Industrial Safety and Health, Sundara Babu admits to negligence on the part of the industry and admitted that employees should be provided accommodation outside the factory to ensure their safety.

Environmental activist, V Srinivasan, part of the fact-finding team, charged widespread corruption and gross negligence not only on the part of the management but also on the part of governing and regulatory bodies such as the TNPCB which directly endangers the lives of workers. “We saw a group of four to five workers engaged in clearing the toxic waste at the accident without wearing or using any safety gear,” said Srinivasan.

10 Days on, Officials Yet to Reach out to Victim’s Family

By J Shanmugha Sundaram

Published: 11th February 2015 06:00 AM

Last Updated: 11th February 2015

VELLORE: Ten days after the Ranipet tannery tragedy that killed 10 workers in the SIDCO Industrial Estate, not a single official from the district administration has reached out to the lone worker’s kith and kin who hail from Tamil Nadu. The victim’s family of five living in a village near Kaniyambadi lost their sole breadwinner, M Sampath (45) when several tonnes of slurry and sludge flooded the company’s compound and surrounding areas.

Sampath, of Santhanakottai village was buried alive along with nine other migrant workers from West Bengal after several hundred tonnes of toxic slurry swamped the premises of R K Leather Factories. “News of the death of my husband was like thunder on my head and has thrown my family’s future into the dark,” said Sampath’s 37 year-old wife Geetha with tears in her eyes.

As days pass, and the memory of the tragic incident recedes, the concern and the need to help the victims’ families seem to be also fading in the minds of officials.

“Not a single soul representing the government department or the tannery industry has reached us with a consoling word or a helping hand,” said Geetha adding that she now has to raise her two daughters and a son - Gayathri (13), Kaviya (12 ) and Poompozhilan (11). In addition she needs to take care of her mother-in-law.

She learned from the media that she would be receiving a compensation of `3 lakh from the State Government and `7 lakh from the association of tanneries, which she is yet to receive.

“The officials have not even communicated to us about the compensation. It is not only about the money, but about the life of a human being. I lost my husband and my children lost their father because of someone’s fault. No one has bothered to reach out to the victim’s family,” she fumed.

Sampath was working as a watchman in the company for the last six months for a salary of `8000 per month.

Saturday, 7 February 2015

TN: Cops invoke Gods to solve crimes

VELLORE: Distressed by a sudden spurt in crimes in Gudiyattam police station limits, the local policemen, unable to get any leads to solve the cases, turned to God for succour. At sunset on Sunday, they conducted a rahu kala pooja.

The cops are clueless regarding seven robberies reported since May 1, in which several people lost cash, gold and silver worth about Rs 1.50 to Rs 2 crore.  According to sources in the department, the policemen cleaned the station on Sunday after which a local priest performed the pooja meant to ward off the evil eye from the station and to enable the policemen solve pending cases and keep their jurisdiction crime-free.

Police officers sought to play down the incident, saying they have been performing poojas every Friday. On Sunday they performed a pooja and smashed a pumpkin to ward off evil spirits from the station, they said.

Starting with a house break-in at Parvathiyapuram, where burglars decamped with gold worth Rs 3 lakh, there were a series of incidents—Rs 2 lakh was stolen from a cement shop on May 16 and Rs 5.50 lakh from three houses and another shop. On May 20, a jewellery shop agent was waylaid by three motorcycle-borne men, who fled with Rs 5 lakh, police said. He, however, claimed he had been carrying Rs 75 lakh to buy jewels from Sowcarpet in Chennai. Five days later, a man from Salem lost 5.7 kg of silver ornaments kept in a car.

Three Nigerians Deported for e-Shopping Fraud

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Three Nigerians, who had been arrested for indulging in cheating and online fraud in Chennai three years ago, have been ordered to be deported to their native. They are expected to fly off from Chennai on Saturday morning.

Police sources said Oladapo Obasoto Olatunbosun alias Richard (32), Dickson M Dickson (29) and Abiodun Oluwagbemiga Oyekunle alias Jerie (33) have been given air tickets, costing `49,500 each, by the Special Tahsildar (Refugee) on Friday.

They would take the 9.30 am flight from the international airport at Meenambakkam to Dubai and take a transit flight from there to Nigeria. They would reach their country at 6 pm on Saturday.

“The trio will be escorted to airport from the Special Camp at 3 am on Saturday,” Special Tahsildar Jayaprakash Naraynan said.

The State government has processed the deportation of the Nigerians after the Embassy of Federal Republic of Nigeria in Delhi issued emergency certificates for them. “We handed over the air tickets after obtaining the exit permit letter from the Superintendent of Police of Tiruvannamalai J Mutharasi, as per rules,” said the official from the district administration.

The trio had been arrested on charges of online fraud and cheating in the second week of December 2011 by the Chennai police. The police registered a case against them under sections 420, 468 of IPC, 66 C and 66 D of Information Technology Act 2008. The three were subsequently arrested under 3 (2) (e) of Foreigners Act and detained in the Special Camp for Foreigners in Chengalpet that was later shifted to Cheyyar.

The police team seized from them a Hyundai Santro car, two LED TVs, six mobile phones, three cameras, three watches, seven imported perfumes, three laptops, one Ipod and 32 pairs of shoes, which they had purchased through fraudulent online shopping.

Two others - Paul Osagie Cyrill and Okechukwa from the special camp would be deported to their country on September 22. The duo had also involved in cheating cases in Chennai and detained in the camp for the last two years.

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Two Nigerians, lodged in the special camp for foreigners in Cheyyar, have been ordered to be deported on Monday.

The Home Department of the State Government has issued the deportation orders for Okechukwa Udube (35) and Paul Osagie Cyrill (44) after receiving emergency certificates from the Embassy of Federal Republic of Nigeria in Delhi.

District administration officials said, they had completed the procedures to deport the duo on Sunday and they are expected to board the flights from the international airport at Meenambakkam in Chennai.

“We obtained the letter from the SP (J Mutharasi) as per rule for the duo on Friday. After getting the letter, we arranged the air ticket for Cyrill,” special tahsildar (refugees) Jayaprakash Narayanan told Express. He added that the district administration of Tiruppur has obtained the air tickets for Udube and his family, who were staying in Tiruppur. Udube and his family would take the 4.05 am flight to Dubai along with his family from Chennai airport. They would take transit flight from there to Lagos. Udube was arrested on August 10, 2013 by Tiruppur North Police on charges of purchasing and selling Indian Made Foreign Liquor and running a bar without permission. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment but he spent more than a year in the special camp.

Cyrill will take the 10 pm flight on Monday. He was arrested by the CCB on June 6, 2012 on charges of indulging in online fraud but charges were not proved. The police filed a fresh case relating to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property. Again, the police failed to prove these charges. Later, the police filed a case under the Foreigners Act and lodged him in special camp.