NEWS

After the district administration gave into public protests and scrapped a sponge iron plant project in Udanabad, it is now an NGO of Dhanbad that has joined the war against pollution caused by these units. A four-member team of Green and Labour Welfare said they had conducted a study at Chatro and neighbouring villages, which revealed that the sponge iron units were largely responsible for polluting the environment.“The condition is alarming in Chatro, Gangapur, Mahtodih, Kalhamanjho Jaambaad, Udanabad and many other villages where sponge iron units have come up. In these places, the industrialists flouted norms while the administration, the pollution board and the industries department failed to take any action against them,” said Kumar Arjun Singh, the working president of NGO.““No where else disabled babies are being born, agricultural lands are turning infertile and water is getting poisoned,” he said.The NGO demanded a pollution control office in Giridih. “We will meet the higher authorities of the pollution control board and write to the governor. Besides, we will also organise an awareness camp in the affected areas in July,” he added.