Contaminated soil shifted to Dobbespet

Karnataka Chemsyn Limited, a Jigani-based drug manufacturing company which had dumped chemical waste in the area shifted the soil under the supervision of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).

“The shifting operation commenced at 10 pm on Thursday and continued upto 8.40 am in the morning,” said a top official. The soil has been taken to the Government-run Hazardous Waste Disposal site for treatment and safe disposal. The firm has spent Rs 4,23,550 for the task.

The move is in the wake of soil contaminationas revealed by analysis of soil samples taken from different spots by three testing labs - the Central Laboratory run by KSPCB at Rajajinagar, Ramky Enviro Engineers and Shiva Analyticals, last week. The drug concern had agreed to bear the expenses incurred for testing, which amount to nearly Rs 2 lakh, he added.

Out of 53 samples analysed by Ramky, 25 were found to be contaminated with absorbable organic halides, which can cause a variety of health problems.
The KSPCB analysed six separate samples in its lab and found high levels of lead and Total Chromium in them while Shiva Analyticals found phenyl ethyl barbituric acid and phenyl hydroxy methyl in its samples.

“All portions of the soil found to be contaminated have been removed and the place is totally free of contamination now,” the official said. Contrary to the suspicion, the concern had not been dumping the waste over a long period of time. “All the waste was accumulated and dumped on December 28 last year. However, since it was liquid waste and rains occured the following day, the pollutants permeated deep into the soil,” the source explained.  

Inspection at drug firms
As a precautionary measure, in the light of the dumping of waste carried out by Chemsyn, officials of the Board are inspecting all drug companies. “We are urging them to dispose waste regularly in a safe manner and not accumulate them and cause environmental problems by dumping them at one go,” he said.
Karnataka Chemsyn Limited has appealed to the KSPCB to permit it to open its concern and restore the disconnected power supply. A decision in this regard is pending with the Board, he added.