The Hindu Business Line : Electroplaters seek more time on effluent plan

THE members of stand-alone electroplating units here facing punitive action from the State pollution control board for discharging untreated effluent have sought time to implement a structured effluent handling plan.

They want the board to shelve the closure orders served against non-compliant units.

Representatives from the Coimbatore District Electroplaters Association who met the Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) in Chennai petitioned the board today, seeking more time for these units to shift their operation to a common place outside the city where they can set up a common effluent treatment plant.

Mr J. Balu, President of the Coimbatore District Small Industries Association, which has taken up the cause of the tiny electroplating units in this regard, said the members of the electroplaters association have brought 11 acres at Saravanampatti to relocate their units. The Saravanampatti site will accommodate about 100 units and pave the way for creating a treatment plant.

While the TNPCB has already given its `no-objection' certificate for the relocation of the units, the latter are awaiting the necessary clearance from the Central Pollution Control Board. Once this is obtained, the units will initiate the process of relocating the units. And to facilitate this, they have asked the board to extend the time.

The TNPCB had last week ordered closure of 70 of the 100-odd electroplating units operating in the city's Avarampalayam area for non-compliance of pollution control norms under the Water (prevention of pollution) Act of 1974 by asking the State electricity board to disconnect connection to these units.

Mr Balu told Business Line that most of the units engaged in electroplating were tiny and their closure would severely affect employment in the sector. Since many of these units work for original equipment manufacturers by undertaking electroplating of engineering/automobile components, their closure at this stage will indirectly lead to dislocation of work at the finishing-lines of the latter.

Many of the stand-alone electroplating units are tiny, each employing less than five workers and the amount of water used for electroplating is said to be less than 1,000 litres per day. Even while these units are goaded by the TNPCB to shift out of residential areas to put up a treatment facility under a centralised arrangement, the board has also asked the larger engineering units to install waste-water recycling for their in-house electroplating facilities.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page