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Why is it so hard to live in India without being deliberately poisoned? First, there was the French ship Clemenceau, the asbestos-coated skeleton headed for India. Now, there is a loud protest against a hazardous landfill being constructed by the Tamil Nadu Waste Management Ltd (TNWML), in Gummidipoondi panchayat of the state.

There is an eerie similarity between the two. Neither is legal. In fact, the TN Panchayats Act, 1994, makes it clear that no construction can take place without the permission from the panchayat union council. The panchayat has already passed a resolution against the landfill. The panchayat has served notices and registered a case with the local police. But the construction has hardly stopped. They are being ignored. The law of the land is being blatantly abused.

It is hard to gloss over the irony. The residents expected that the SC Monitoring Committee for Hazardous Wastes would realise what a poor site this one is for any landfill. It is located on a porous land, with the ground water flowing under it directly to villages. It hasn’t responded so far. The committee itself is a result of a PIL that hoped to stop such community poisoning. Why do communities like this one still have to struggle for their constitutional Right to Life and a Clean Environment? Why are workers still being poisoned? Maybe it is that same thing again: the price of life if you’re poor.

An US example

The TN case reminds me of a recent study conducted by the US Centre for Health, Environment and Justice. The focus of the study was to show how schools were being built on contaminated land, including landfills. The problem with this is the impact it has on children who will study and play in a highly contaminated area. One of the findings was that poorer districts were found to use toxic lands for constructing schools. Poorer communities also received less decontamination of poisoned lands in their area. Regulation was also found to be absent in all but five states. The poor seem to globalise in their inequity.

(If you feel for planet earth, write in to earthwatch1@yahoo.co.in)