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Industrial pollution chokei people, crops alike

Mirza Shakjland Pinaki Roy
Ammonia mixed toxic gas and urea du emitted from Jamuna Fertiliser Factoi (IFF) in Jamalpur have allegedly bee wreaking havoc on the local environmei and causing debilitating illnesses amor the locals.
The toxic gas of the largest urea pn ducing factory, at Tarandani < Sarishabari upazila in Tangail, has ah been harming crops, trees, livestoc poultry and fish resources for the last 1 years Many trees around the factory c not have a single leaf.
Locals held protest programmes forming human chains, barricading tl
factory gate, submitting mcmorandun to the IFF authorities--but nothing wt achieved. A number of locals have starte ' moving out of their villages near tl 1 factory. Locals alleged that the factoi 1 officials paid no heed to their complain ! over the years.
The JFF authorities claimed that th< are releasing ammonia at a much low, f level than the government set standard ’ However, officials concerned at tl - department of environment said they : 1 the recent past did not conduct any test. ’ ammonia concentration in the gas emi ting from the JFF.
Since its inception the JFF has bet 5 producing 1,700 tonnes of urea per ds
i 5,60,000 tonnes a year. Urea is product i from ammonia and carbon dioxide ga I Chemical formaldehyde is also mixed wii the urea to make it hard. Formaldehyt
' acts as a disinfectant and It kills mo ; bacteria and fungi (including their spores Sources working in the factory sa
' ammonia-mixed toxic inert gas
: released into the environment throuj the vent stake. This has been going c
• every day since 1991, when the facto i started its operation.
f The factory has been releasing a laq amount of urea dust that look like srnol through the blowers of the JFF plant, th<
i said.
SEE PAGE 2 rm
FROM PAGE 1
Locals told The Daily Star that crops, trees, poultry, livestock and fish in the adjacent Kandarpara. Tarakandi, Charpara and Dhuriarbhita villages have been dying due to the emissions of tne factory. Croplands in the area have become infertile due to the pollution over the years, they claimed.
Jahirul Hassan, general manager (production) of JFF, told The Daily Star that emission of the inert gas and urea dust is a "normal matter" for all fertiliser factories in the world.
"We are trying to keep the design-basednroblemslowand under the allowable percentage," he said.
During a visit to Kandapara village. Tne Daily Star correspondent had difficulty breathing as the smell of the urea dust and ammonia-mixed gas was overwhelming. The correspon-dent'seyesstarted lobum.
Most of the trees in the villages have already died and the water of the ponds there has become discoloured and fish cannot live in them.
Locals alleged that many have been suffering from diseases like asthma, bronchitis, different kinds of skin diseases and in some cases loss of sight.
Rina Begum, a housewife of Kandarpara village, said her three children have constantly been suffering from diseases over the years.
Marfat Ah of the same village said three of his six brothers and their families haw already left the village unable to bear the pollution. "I will also leave the village as soon as possible with my wdfe and children." he said.
Shamsher Ali of the village said. 1 am only 40 but I cannot see clearly anymore. My hair has fallen off due to the pollution."
Azizul Haque, 50. of Kandapara said last year taking loans from Krishi Bankhe started a fish farm in his three ponds but fish worth around Tk 1 lakh died due to the toxic water.
"Iwent to thefactoryauthor-ities. including high officials of the factory, and snowed them dead fish but they would not even listen tome," he said.
The fanners in the area are the worst affected.
Razzak Ali. a farmer of Kandarpara village, said during the last boro season he cultivated boro rice on 35 bights of land by taking advance payments from buyers. His entire yield was wasted, the grains of paddy contained no rice.
"1 invested Tk 36.000. Now I do not know how I am going to
repay," he said.
Most farmers in the village--Tota Miah, Joinal Abedin, Shamsher Ali, Khanu Miah, Badal Miah, Abdul Aziz, Marfat Ali and Suruj Ali-are in similar troubles.
Mir Mozaffar Ali, former managing director (MD) of JFF who recently retired, told The Daily Star that the government-run urea factory has been releasing a small amount of ammonia-mixed inert gas and urea dust into the local environment. The allowable emission of inert gas is 50ppm (particles per micro gram) and the JFF usually emits only lOppm, he said.
“Local residents are exaggerating the problem," he claimed.
Md Snahjahan, managing director (MD) of JFE yesterday said only a small amount of ammonia gas is being discharged from the factory which is very normal. The claims of locaLs are over exaggerated, he added.
An official at the department of environment said they do not have enough staff to conduct such tests away from the capital.
"We haw only three inspectors to cover 17 districts. The government does not provide any regular vehicles for inspections. How can we conduct
regular tests of such industries.' said the official requesting anonymity.
"Maybe the industry is emitting toxic gas more than the set standard." tne official said
The situation is so grave that Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BOO decided to compensate a number of the locals for their sufferings and allocated Tk 20 lakh for the purpose. The upazila administration has already made a list of 168 people eligible for compensation out many have been left out, locals alleged.
Upazila administration sources, however, said thev are yet to receive any complaint regarding affected people being left out.
Asked why the upazila administration is giving compensation despite his claims. Md Shahjahan yesterday said due to unavoidable circumstances the factory was closed for a while and ammonia gas discharge increases when the factory is closed. People were compensated for damages done by the excessive discharge of gas.
He said the factory is now fully functional and there should not be any problem of excessive gas emission.