Pharmaceutical Company at Kurumbapet given closure order

The Puducherry Pollution Control Committee (PPCC) has issued a closure order to Taica Labs, a pharmaceutical company in Kurumbapet.

Special Secretary to Government and Chairman of the PPCC G. Theva Neethi Dhas told The Hindu that the unit had been issued directions for closure, for unauthorised manufacture of liquid formulations such as tonics.

Environmental Engineer of the PPCC N. Ramesh said that the directions were issued with the approval of the Chairman of the PPCC and the recommendation of Member Secretary G. Rajmohan.

The Department of Electricity had also been directed to stop power supply to the unit.

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit obtained licence to operate from the PPCC in February 2007, stating that it would only manufacture tablets and capsules. Water was not required in the manufacturing process, and there was no scope for effluents to be released. Later, the unit started unauthorised manufacture of tonics with alcohol content. This was brought to the notice of the PPCC by complaints from residents of the area, he said.

According to a resident of Raghavendra Nagar in Kurumbapet, “The unit started to discharge effluents into public drains, because of which water turned green. There was open discharge of effluents too, because of which even grass stopped growing in the area. We started to get frequent bouts of fever and developed skin allergy. There was a strong odour released by the effluents, because of which children used to vomit.”

Mr. Ramesh said that the unit had been collecting effluents in a sump and pumping it into roadside drains through an underground pipe.

Officials of the PPCC inspected the unit and discovered the violation.

“We then issued the unit a show cause notice. But, because the response was evasive and not satisfactory, we have now issued directions for closure under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Yet to fill Nurses vacancies in Puducherry

While we knew, unemployment has been a constant struggle for any country. The recent economic crisis very generously boosted the toll rate of unemployment in many developed and developing counties. United States and other European countries are not exceptional.

It is not a rare situation that in India you plead the government to fill the vacancies assured some 3 year, 4 years back. Recent “the Pondicherry Government Nurses’ Association has urged the government to fill vacancies to the post of staff nurses, head nurses, public health nurses and nursing superintendents.

At a general body meeting held on Thursday, the association adopted resolutions urging the government to fill the third installment of 100 posts of staff nurses and three head nurses as per the Staff Inspection Unit norms as agreed to by the government in 2004, a release said. “

Filling these posts would surely improve the treatment and services provided in Puducherry Government Hospitals. Let us hope the government to act as quick as possible