Sun Risers eliminate RCB moves up..... water crisis in Chennai - National Green Tribunal

The mighty and powerful try to paralyse the democratic society holding people to ransom.  During the Rio De Janeiro summit of United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in June 1992, India vowed the participating states to provide judicial and administrative remedies for the victims of the pollutants and other environmental damage. Resultantly a Tribunal was set up…. Do you know what it is and how it is behind the recent struggle of water-parched Chennai residents !!

Today there is no IPL match ~ in the last of the match, Sun Risers had RCB pinned to the mat still somehow tried to get under that mat and finally Darren Sammy, the pacifier finished things in style with 2 sixers.  So no longer Chris Gayle and Co…….. many big teams, big names buried and now CSK will play MI on 21^st; on 23^rd RR will play Sun Risers ……….. the loser of first and winner of the second would play on 24^th ~ the winner of this match will play the winner of CSK/MI in the finals on 26^th………….. some of us have been following cricket with passion for decades….. the recent arrests and news on spot fixing, though not for the first time have shaken us badly…… I have never been any great supporter of IPL but still had pleasure in watching matches…… now the most unsettling aspect of all that has happened these last few days is the reminder that cricket’s very structure, which affords its fans such joy, is so vulnerable to manipulation. Cricket is a series of discrete events, each initiated by the bowler. This gives cricket its unique rhythm; its space for the pause allows reflection. It has always been its unpredictability that has attracted people,  cruelly that foundation stands shaken….

Coming back, as a fallout of RIO was established in 2010, the National Green Tribunal under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.

After a directive of its Southern bench came the action of TN Pollution board and the consequent strike by water packaging units…. Who ? – those people who started making money from the day common man stopped drinking tap water and ran towards so called ‘mineral water’ – to all that is being supplied on bubble top and other receptacles. Quite audaciously, those who were getting money from the customers chose to put them under trouble. It was reported that dealers stopped delivery even when some had stocks – just to ensure that people are left in lurch, while some made money by selling them at more hefty prices.  

And the strike was because the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board closed down 92 units in and around Chennai as they did not have the required licences. Well, clearly a message that they will operate without licence and will provide some water under packaged water nomenclature – no body, especially the authorities should question ! even by their own admission, it is more of raw water, allowed to settle, chlorinated, passed through filter of carbon, sand and other filters, ozonised and sold……… and many of the units might actually be skipping many of these processes and yet make money.

There are many in the city who have become addicted to this water and cannot survive without canned / bubble top water.  There is no ground water source and Corporation water supply  exists only in places.   It is not sudden that the packaged drinking water industry is  facing a crisis. A case is pending before the National Green Tribunal’s Southern Bench relating to the 92 units that have been closed by the TNPCB. Around 300 water packaging units across Chennai, Kancheepuram and Tiruvallur districts had downed shutters on Thursday protesting the closure of 92 units by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). These units did not have valid consent from the TNPCB.  The Hindu reports that the green tribunal has directed the TNPCB and the Commissionerate of Food Safety and Drug Administration to inspect the shut units. It also ordered them to analyse water samples from the units and submit a report on May 27. Until then, the units will remain closed.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

20^th May 2013.