Villages oppose proposed yarn coloring park in Salem

Residents from over 40 villages in and around the integrated textile park at Jahir Ammapalayam are strongly opposing the proposed yarn coloring park in Salem district, alleging it will severely pollute local groundwater and water bodies. The Salem Yarn Coloring Park (SYCP) administration, however, has vehemently denied these accusations.

A Rs 880 crore project spanning 119 acre, the integrated textile park has been under development for eight months. The controversy stems from the plan to operate 50 dyeing units within the park under the SYCP, which includes a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP).

KV Suseendra Kumar, Advisor, Salem People Welfare Association, warns the park could severely affect over 4,000 acre of farmland and crucial drinking water sources, including those supplied to the Salem Corporation. Alleging that the coloring process falls under the ‘red category’ of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Kumar emphasized, the park effluents would cause severe health problems.

In response, the SYCP administration insisted the SYCP is a ‘green project’ that will create approximately 15,000 job opportunities. The administration emphasized, the project utilizes world-class technology with a Rs 200 crore investment and features a 10 MLD CETP designed with Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) technology, meaning all effluents will be treated and reused within the park.

Moreover, the SYCP administration confirmed that they will not dig any borewells for the project. Instead, they will use 2 MLD of water sourced from the Mankuttai sewage treatment plant (STP), which they claim will prevent 100 per cent pollution in the Thirumanimutharu River.  Dropping the project would lead to four to five lakh job losses in the textile-related business and halt benefits for over 50,000 handloom and powerloom weavers, they warned.