A sponge iron plant at Chandil. Telegraph picture

Jamshedpur, April 27: A high-level team of the state pollution control board has planned to conduct surprise raids on polluting units in Adityapur-Chandil-Chowka and Ramgarh-Ranchi industrial belts.

The team, which is empowered to issue closure notices to offenders, would recommend necessary steps if it finds any of the units flouting pollution norms.

The decision for the surprise inspection comes after to the state pollution control board received several complaints of large-scale air and water pollution, especially from Chowka and Chandil areas, where maximum number of sponge iron units operate.

R.K. Sinha, the member secretary of Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB), said the inspection team has already been formed and it may swing into action any day.

Elaborating on the steps, Sinha told The Telegraph that the department wants to keep the dates of the planned raids and the names and addresses of the plants to be raided secret for operational reasons.

“There are several plants that continue to violate pollution control norms with impunity and there are some others which have been trying to hoodwink the department by promising that they were complying with the JSPCB directives. But in reality, the management of majority of the sponge iron units have done nothing,” said the JSPCB member secretary.

According to the pollution control board officer, the polluting units would no longer be allowed to play with the environment. The board would take stern measures against units found flouting the pollution norms.

With the level of pollution reaching dangerous proportions in majority of the waterbodies, villagers in Chowka and Chandil have begun to face acute drinking water crisis this summer.

The wells have dried up due to a fall in the water table, while the ponds have turned black or reddish due to the polluting gas and dust emanated by the sponge iron units in the vicinity.

“We would have to use the pond water for drinking purposes during summer. So we used a a traditional method to clean the water, but it did failed to work this time. The layer of effluents on the water surface is so thick that the colour of the water remains reddish despite the cleaning process,” said Rameshwar Munda, a resident of Dubrajpur.

Munda told The Telegraph that in the absence of drinking water, many families have shifted to other places.

“Water-borne diseases li- ke diarrhoea and gastroen- teritis often break out among residents of in Dubrajpur, Rugdi, Tuidungri, Chatarpur, Khujidih, Chowka, Bansa and and Bulandi villages apart from tuberculosis, jaundice and typhoid,” said Munda.

Another villager, Ramlal Tuddu of Chatarpur, said: “The management of majority of the sponge iron plants have political connection. Some of politicians even have business interest in the sponge iron units. So they are hardly bothered about implementing the pollution control board’s directives. The management of such companies know how to handle any awkward situation if a high-level team of state pollution control board raids their polluting units.”