A 32-year-old housewife, N. Lakshmi, from Tadi village, located adjacent to the Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) industrial park, despondently wipes off the black sooty dust formed on the utensils she just washed and kept in the backyard to dry.
This is a regular scene here, she adds, reminiscing the good old days when the village air was pure, and the backyards were full of lush green vegetable plants.
The village lands, nourished by the abundant supply of Godavari river waters through the Yeluru Canal, once produced vegetables like tomato, okra, ridge guard and bottle guard, which were in high demand in Visakhapatnam.
Today, however, the much-loved Tadi-brand vegetables relished by Vizagites are no longer seen in the market, thanks to the severe industrial pollution that plagued the village.
The 80th ward of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC), Tadi, is a small coastal village in Parawada mandal in Anakapalli district and is located 40 km from Visakhapatnam city in Andhra Pradesh.
The greenery and serenity in the village saw a drastic change in 2005 with the advent of industries in the JNPC, one of the largest industrial pharma park in the country, 250 metres from it.
Now, Tadi stands as the only residential area under the GVMC limits, which is hit by severe industrial pollution, and the villagers demand they be shifted from there. The government, acknowledging the plight of the villagers, announced an alternative relocation solution and assured the release of special funds to improve the villagers’ health and provide them with alternate livelihoods.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, on April 28, 2022, at a public meeting held in Paidivada Agraharam, said that required funds of ₹56 crore for the village would be released within a week or 10 days, and justice would be done to the villagers and their demand.
JNPC was established in 2005 to set up the pharma park with general infrastructure such as a 100 MW power plant, multi-fuel, hazardous waste management (two lakh tonnes per annum), water treatment plant etc.
Yeleru Canal is the main water source in the area. Around 90 industries are currently active in this pharma hub, employing 32,000 people from different parts of the country, and another 10 industries are under construction. The total annual turnover of the industries is around ₹20,000 crore, and the products manufactured here have a market in 80 different countries.
“Around 2,500 people in our village are reeling under severe pollution since the industries started operations one by one at JNPC from 2007 onwards. Initially, our villagers did not care about the pollution but later understood its ill effects. We have been campaigning against the pollution since 2008,” said Tadi villager M. Neelababu. He is also a former Parawada Mandal Praja Parishad member and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency Member from the opposition Telugu Desam Party.
There are about 1,000 houses in the village. People now go to nearby areas for daily wage work, and some work at the JNPC industries on an outsourcing basis. Almost all of them stopped cultivation and agricultural work as there is no such activity due to pollution, they say.
A 45-year-old man, K. Appalaraju, a daily wage labourer from the village, says his health deteriorated due to continuous exposure to polluted air and lack of clean drinking water. The water tasted sour, so they avoided consuming it and now depend on the private water tankers for their daily needs, he says
“It is impossible to buy mineral water or purified air facilities in my house with my low income,” says Mr. Appalaraju.
Ms. Lakshmi says every household in the village has someone suffering from health problems like colds, fever, and headaches. She also says that senior citizens in the village are suffering from kidney and nervous problems. Some villagers working in the JNPC industries are often exposed to accidents at the workplaces, she adds.
Industrial accidents
The JNPC houses major industries of pharmaceuticals & intermediates, pharmaceuticals and chemicals. The major source of air pollution is the boilers & fugitive emissions, according to the complaints of the villagers to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB).
All these companies release harmful gases into the environment every day. Due to these industries, groundwater is also polluted, denying them the only safe drinking water source. Tadi has become uninhabitable due to pollution, and the Green Belt is not maintained in the overall layout of JNPC per the norms.
As far as waste-water management is concerned, out of the 506 samples, 26 samples were rejected by the Pollution Control Board officials between January 2022 and September 2023. The rejection percentage for the last two years is 5%. If the treated wastewater does not meet the sea discharge standards, it is not allowed to discharge into the sea and is sent back to Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) for re-treatment until it meets the discharge standards.
According to industry sources, a total of 52 accidents, both major and minor, including furnace explosions and fire accidents, occurred in more than 16 different companies in the JNPC since 2011, in which 39 people lost their lives and 45 people were injured. Some of the victims belong to the village.
“Even with the report of the ghastly accidents in the pharma hub, no government has bothered to come to the air of the village, which is just 250-300 metres from the JNPC compound wall. The government made a big mistake by leaving this village at the beginning, during the land acquisition for industries”Ganisetti SatyanarayanaHonorary president, Pharma City Staff and Workers Union
“Even with the report of the ghastly accidents in the pharma hub, no government has bothered to come to the air of the village, which is just 250-300 metres from the JNPC compound wall. The government made a big mistake by leaving this village at the beginning, during the land acquisition for industries. The only solution for people’s safety is to shift them from here at the earliest,” says Ganisetti Satyanarayana, honorary president of the Pharma City Staff and Workers Union.
‘Regular monitoring’
On the other hand, APPCB Visakhapatnam Regional Environmental Engineer G. Nagi Reddy says the Board regularly monitors the general facilities and member industries of JNPC every six months to verify the compliance status of APPCB conditions and directives issued to the JNPC and industries. Suppose any violations are found during the inspection, the APPCB will review the industries before the external advisory (task force) committee and, from time to time, issue directions to the industries to comply with the Board’s conditions.
The Board has issued a directive dated 26 August 2020 to all industries to avoid discharges of polluted stormwater into drains leading to contamination of nearby water bodies. The Board constituted a monitoring committee with members of industries, Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (APIIC) and APPCB to monitor industries to curb wastewater and air pollution at JNPC. The Board has constituted a Night Patrolling Team at the Zonal Office at Visakhapatnam to attend to the complaints received from the public regarding pollution levels during night time in JNPC.
‘Not our responsibility’
Clarifying the pollution issue, a top executive of the Ramky Group, on condition of anonymity, said, “There is no way our group is connected with the shifting of the village, and it is due to the pollution. The reason is that we got land from APIIC for ₹4 lakh per acre in 2004 and developed this pharma park in 2005. We will definitely respond if there is anything within our purview. Our role is to develop and efficiently manage the land in JNPC as per the agreement with APIIC. So, we are not connected to this issue.”
An official from the Anakapalli District Revenue Department says that according to the previous surveys, a total of 740 families have been identified for relocation during 2009-10. It is an old survey report. No more surveys were conducted later till recently. Based on the old survey report, the government identified about 70 acres of land in Peda Mushidivada for rehabilitation.
Moreover, the current land prices have also increased. So shifting a village to another village is a difficult task for any government, irrespective of its politics, as R&R compensation becomes a big issue; it may cost around ₹100 to ₹50 crore. Instead, the government can build a special housing complex like the Jagananna Housing Layout exclusively for the Tadi villagers and move them. After the villages are shifted, the government should take over the village land and spend a portion of the land for the development of houses allotted to them. Since the elections are around the corner in the first quarter of 2024, we don’t know how the politicians will react to it and what kind of decisions they may take. It completely depends on the politicians, opined the revenue official
JNPC is known for its pharmaceutical industrial base in the State. At least 30-40 percent of the industries here are from the US, France, Japan, and Germany and have set up their manufacturing units in the pharmaceutical city.
Land acquisition
According to Industries Department sources, the APIIC has acquired land (part from people) in around nine villages, except Tadi, for the proposed `Black Gold Refinery’ unit during the 2000s. But, the proposal was withdrawn. Later, the APIIC made an agreement with Ramky Group, the developer of JNPC, and allotted 2,143 acres of land to it in 2004 at ₹4 lakh per acre price. In 2005, the then Chief Minister, the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, laid the foundation stone for the JNPC.
According to the agreement between APIIC and Ramky, out of the 2,143 acres acquired, 1429.31 acres have been earmarked for the development of industrial plots and the remaining 713.69 acres for roads and general infrastructure.
Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, former MLA of the Pendurthi Assembly segment (Tadi falls under this segment) says, “Our TDP government has worked sincerely for the relocation of Tadi village. Our leader, N. Chandrababu Naidu, is also committed to shifting the village and complying with the Rehabilitation & Resettlement (R&R) norms. We had even issued an official G.O. dated 4th December 2018 to provide ₹57.63 crore for the R&R when my party was in power. Unfortunately, the election code for the 2019 elections was implemented and our party lost the election. So, the G.O. gathered dust in the next government led by the YSR Congress Party. We will surely resume this once our party comes to power in 2024.”
Mr. Satyanarayana Murthy further said that his government had framed the G.O. and at least taken steps, but the current Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy government has not done anything about it. “Mr. Jagan made a promise to solve this at a public meeting in April 2022 and came to the JNPC on 16 October 2023 to launch another pharma company. But he didn’t have the time to know the pollution problem here,” Murthy says.
The ex-MLA also reminded that he went on an indefinite hunger strike in July 2012 to defend the demands of Tadi villagers.
“Yes, our Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is keen to change the village, and the process is underway. The transfer process will be ready by the time of the Sankranti festival in January 2024. We identified an alternate site at Peda Mushidivada near Tadi”A. Adeep RajMLA, Pendurthi
‘Solution by Sankranti’
A. Adeep Raj, the present MLA from YSR Congress, says, “Yes, our Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy is keen to change the village, and the process is underway. The transfer process will be ready by the time of the Sankranti festival in January 2024. We identified an alternate site at Peda Mushidivada near Tadi.”
Today, the villagers of Tadi, with bated breaths, look towards their leaders and political parties for a solution to their problem.
“None of the political parties or the Chief Ministers, including Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, have bothered about the pollution issue. The MLAs and MPs who won from our village with about 1,200 votes have not been working seriously towards providing us with a peaceful life. We will give big credit to the leader who can solve our problem and will honour them forever” B. GovindarajuTadi villager
“None of the political parties or the Chief Ministers, including Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, have bothered about the pollution issue. The MLAs and MPs who won from our village with about 1,200 votes have not been working seriously towards providing us with a peaceful life. We will give big credit to the leader who can solve our problem and will honour them forever,” says B. Govindaraju, who is leading the agitation for village relocation.
