Pollution issue: MLAs are silent now, says Kitex chairman

KOCHI: Why the local MLAs were silent today on the

Kadambrayar

pollution issue, just because there is no evidence of it being caused by

Kitex Garments

, said

Sabu M Jacob

, chairman of

Kitex

Group. He also released an RTI document from the Agricultural Officer,

Kizhakkambalam

which clarified that there wasn’t any evidence of pollution caused by Kitex.

"It was PT Thomas and other MLAs who had complained at a district development committee meeting that Kitex was polluting Kadambrayar. However, after the meeting that was convened by the district collector today for discussing the issue, why the MLAs PT Thomas, Eldhose Kunnappilly and PV Sreenijin were silent on this topic when the met the media. Why was it so,” Jacob asked.

According to him, the complaint was investigated by multiple departments of the state government.

“Officials inspected all the fields and streams near the company in detail and they took water samples at a gap of every kilometer from the stream. They even used drone for this. During the inspection of the 15km stretch up to Kadambrayar river, they found no trace of pollution in the streams near Kitex. On the other hand, the severity of the pollution increased as it approached Kadambrayar. It is clear from this that the waste from residential flats and other industrial establishments is polluting the river," Jacob argued.

Jacob also said that the Rs 13 crore funds saved by the

Kizhakkambalam Panchayat

is reflective of the fact that corruption was brought under control. He also said that it was not only the road towards Kitex that was being rebuilt, but also 90% of the roads in the panchayat too.