Image credit : illustrative image

Farmers in Tirupur and surrounding areas were agitated over the discharge of effluent from dyeing units into the Noyyal river, which has become ‘useless’ for irrigation.The farmers woke up early on Friday morning to see the river water flowing in red colour, due to untreated effluent discharge from dyeing units, leading foul smell spreading around the area, farmers association sources said.

“The heavy rains experienced in the last fortnight has resulted in copious inflow into the river. Taking undue advantage of this, dyers have discharged the effluents into the water, leading to heavy foam formation,” they said. Though the issue was taken to the Government and Dyers Association, the State Environment Minister, Karuppanan, had recently attributed the foam to the soap water generated due to washing clothes and bathing by the people, which received flak from the farmers organisations and general public.

Following complaints, the State Pollution Control Board had sealed 23 dyeing units a month ago. Even as the general public and voluntary organisations started cleaning the river, the sudden discharge of effluent from dyeing units irked the farmers, as the water has become completely red and violet, leading foul smell and useless for irrigation.

The farmers and social activists appealed to the PCB to take stringent action against those who had violated the pollution norms, thus making water ‘useless’. Similar situation also reported from a village near Omalur in Salem district, where dyers and other textile manufacturers released the unit water into the river used by the residents, association sources said.