Factories in urban areas polluting the environment

The illegal and harmful nature of several factories in urban areas has led to conflicts between residents and factory administrations in many of the suburban areas with dire consequences.

Incidents in Batakeththara, Piliyandala (the gas leak) and the Rathupaswela (acidity in water) are examples of this situation. Residents of several areas say that factories have been set up with little regard given to the legal framework set out by local government and environmental authorities.

However, residents say that the new factories being set up or even those already in existence for the past 20 years or so have no clearance from the Central Environmental Authority (CEA) or the local government authority.

One such example is the pesticide factory established almost 25 years ago close to the Mahayawatta housing scheme in Kesbewa. A subsidiary of a well-known company, the factory not only produces pesticides but also plastic bottles and pens.

Residents say they have been forced to breathe the air mixed with chemicals released from the factory. Many of them have become heart patients and prone to many other breathing problems. Noise pollution is another issue with residents hardly able to sleep at night with the number of vehicles travelling back and forth.

A nearby paddy field too has been abandoned by residents after rain water mixed with chemical waste was released to it. Despite orders by the CEA to halt work in November and shut down the premises in December, production at the factory was yet continuing, residents said.

A Laundromat established at Kirigampamunuwa, Homagama is another such example. Residents in the area said apart from using normal washing powder the factory also used various other chemicals.

Farmers in the area had complained that rainwater mixed with these chemicals have been n released into the nearby paddy fields resulting in many of them having wounds in their feet. This has resulted in a 20-acre paddy land in the area being abandoned by farmers. Close to Rs.3 lakhs had been spent on the land allocated by the Western Provincial Agricultural Ministry to prepare it for cultivating purposes.

Residents also said the e factory had not received the necessary permits it from the Pradeshiya Sabaha in the area. “The police filed a case against the factory after we complained so many times but we have not been informed of anything yet,” a resident said.

Residents said the reports of the factory’s water samples taken by the H Homagama Health H lth Inspectors I t were yet t to be released. The three wells dug by the Laundromat without any permits have also resulted in the wells in the surrounding area drying up during the dry season. Text & Pix by Dayarathne

Pathirana