NEWS

Supreme Court has come down hard on industries polluting water bodies, applying the `polluters pay' principle against 150-odd dyeing units in Tirupur's garment export which had been discharging their waste in Noyyal river. In an order that may be cited by green activists, the court asked the dyeing units at Karur and Tirupur, which cater to the huge forex earning garment export industry in Tamil Nadu, to pay for cleaning the River Noyyal and other water bodies massively polluted by discharge from their factories. Agreeing with the stand of the Noyyal River Ayacutdars Protection Association, SC refused to take any lenient view of the environmental hazard resulting from the noxious effluent discharged by the factories adversely affecting the river, the Orthapalayam reservoir and other tanks and channels of the river. The court noted that the industries have set up 17 common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) and were asked to pay up Rs 55.60 crore for eco-restoration and pollution check work. The Tirupur Dyeing Factories Association, as per a Madras High Court order, had paid up Rs 25 crore for this purpose. The SC said the rest of the amount had to be paid within three months. A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice B S Chauhan said: "It is desirable that the members of the appellant association should ensure the compliance of the directions including the payment of the dues within three months."