Dyeing unit told to pay up for workers death

VELLORE: The Vellore Citizens Welfare Forum expressed shock over the death of four employees in a dyeing unit at Karur, due to blast of a boiler plant. The subsequent sanctioning of solatium by the State government has made the forum point out that the concerned dyeing unit must take responsibility and compensate the death of its workers. Honorary secretary of the forum P S Subrahmanian said,  the death was caused by the dyeing unit and it was responsible for extending support to the victims’ families. The government must ensure that the industry responsible must take necessary action.He also said, the dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur, Karur, Erode and Coimbatore are polluting the environment for many years, evading several  court orders, including that of the Supreme Court,  passed  in 1996 in response to a writ filed by the Vellore forum. The Loss of Ecology (Prevention and Payments of compensation) Authority constituted on the orders passed awards of compensation against all the dyeing and bleaching units in the State.“The Tirupur units were directed by the court to pay `55 crore as compensation to the affected farmers on or before January 2010. Most of the dyeing units  in the State were  closed following orders  of  the  Madras High Court  for non-compliance to its orders to set up efficient  Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP). Instead of complying with pollution control norms, the present State government went ahead and reopened them,  said Subrahmanian.