THRISSUR: Residents of Cheruvathery near Avinissery began an indefinite strike in front of district collectorate on Wednesday seeking action against a gold jewellery manufacturing unit here alleging that the acidic effluent from the company had polluted the wells in the neighbourhood. "We approached the pollution control board, the district collector, and health department officials on the issue," said convener of the samara samithi T V Chandran. "The scientific studies conducted by the authorities proved the increased acidity of water in the wells in the area, but no action has been taken yet against the company," he said. As per a study of the Kerala Water Authority, the pH value of water in wells in the area ranged from 3 to 4.5, which is much lower from the recommended levels (6 to 8.5) for drinking water. According to the World Health Organization, low pH levels of drinking water could cause allergic problems and eye related ailments in children. Over 500 people who live in the area where the jewellery manufacturing unit is located had submitted a petition to the chief minister and other officials concerned when the LDF led government assumed office but no action has been taken so far. The jewellery manufacturing unit here was established in 2007 and the reports collected by the agitation council through RTI pointed out that the pH level of water became low from 2013 onwards. "I spent a lot of money to dig a well on our compound. But now we have to depend on tanker trucks for drinking water. The water in the well is acidic and children fell ill whenever we used it," said Valsan, a resident. His daughter Nayana, a fourth standard student, had sent a letter to the Prime Minister explaining their plight and got a reply which directed the chief secretary to take proper action. "On August 4, the then district collector V Ratheesan along with district panchayat president, district medical officials, and pollution control board engineer inspected the wells here and also visited the company. During their inspection they found out that the water in the wells has been polluted," said Chandran. But, the environmental engineer at pollution control board P K Baburajan said, the company was not using acid for gold treatment. "Yet, we gave strict instructions to update the effluent treatment plant in the company and ensured that the instructions were followed before sanctioning the license," he said and added that though the wells there remained polluted, the residents did not allow the authorities to clean them. Meanwhile, the panchayat authorities said that drinking water supply had been sanctioned to the houses here following the instruction of KWA. Earlier, NCP district president Raghu Marath inaugurated the indefinite strike. The Samara Samithi leaders said that they would continue their protest until the officials take measures to solve the issue, which could even affect the coming generations.