After the State government’s decision to offer a compensation package to fishermen of Pudimadaka, work is expected to be launched anytime for laying a pipeline to discharge treated’ effluents from pharma and other units located at AP Special Economic Zone (APSEZ)-Atchutapuram into the sea. Though the project received environmental and coastal zone regulation clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests and no-objection certification from the AP Pollution Control Board four years ago, due to resistance by the local fishermen, work on the project could not take off. After discussion at a gram sabha held at Pudimadaka, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced recently a rehabilitation plan at a cost of Rs.61 crore for the fisherfolk of Pudimadaka. He said each adult aged above 18 would be given Rs.1.25 lakh towards compensation for allowing the pipeline. APPCB Senior Environmental Engineer R. Lakshminarayana told The Hindu that the pipeline would give a shot in the arm to industrial activity at APSEZ-Atchutapuram. A few bulk drug units are in operation at APSEZ. Sites have been allotted to 30 units and five to six are on verge of launching production. Any chemical unit manufacturing drugs will take two years for validation. The common effluent treatment plant will involve an investment of Rs.50 crore on evaporation and other systems. The proposed pipeline will have a capacity to discharge five million litres per day (MLD). Brandix India Apparel City, Hetero, Ramky Pharma City (Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City) and Deccan Foil Chemicals Ltd have separate pipelines for discharge of treated effluents. For the second pharma city proposed near Nakkapalli, for which site has been identified a separate pipeline will be laid. Once the ecosystem like the effluent treatment, R&D, education and discharge facilities are developed, North Andhra will become a prominent hub for pharma exports, Ramky Pharma City CEO Lal Krishna said. JNPC has 73 units in operation and 20 at various stages of construction. Its annual turnover is estimated at Rs.15,000 crore. A section of fishermen of Pudimadaka feel the pipeline will further aggravate their problem.
2016, The Hindu