Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Pernambut areas are reportedly bearing the brunt Farmers participating in a monthly grievance day meeting at the Collectorate here on Friday complained of pollution of groundwater in Ambur, Vaniyambadi and Pernambut areas on account of the discharge of treated and untreated tannery effluents with high TDS (total dissolved solids) content, affecting cultivation in the affected areas. A farmer of Vadasery near Ambur said untreated tannery effluents were discharged into the Palar on the sly in the Vadasery area during nights. The consumption of polluted groundwater has resulted in several people being afflicted with strange diseases. Besides, several people in Vadasery have been afflicted with filariasis. The common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) to which the tanneries are linked should not discharge treated effluents into the river or other waterbodies, but ensure that the tanneries reuse treated effluents, he said. A farmer complained that TDS content in the effluents discharged into the Palar between Vadasery and Marapet was as high as 19,000 ppm (parts per million). Besides tannery effluents, municipal waste from Ambur and Vaniyambadi areas were also dumped in this part of the river. Parthasarathy, anther farmer, said farmers' lands have been spoiled by tannery effluents. The government should meet 90 per cent of the cost of reclamation of the affected land, he said. A farmer of Pernambut said the effluents discharged by the CETP in Pernambut contained a high level of TDS far exceeding the norms of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). Farmers in the area could not undertake cultivation on account of the problem, he said. The District Environmental Engineer, TNPCB, Vaniyambadi, said the CETPs in the district were constructing zero discharge plants, but the plants were not a success. Therefore, the CETPs have been given time till March 31 to comply with the norms of the Board, he said. Ajay Yadav, Collector of Vellore, who presided over the meeting, asked the TNPCB engineer whether he has issued notice to the CETP concerned which discharged effluents with high TDS content under the Environmental Protection Act, and whether there was any response. The engineer said he had issued notice and the CETP concerned had been given 15 days to reply. The Collector said that he would personally look into the problem. Farmers from different parts of Vellore district narrated their woes on account of erratic power supply and penalty levied by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) on farmers for using the water drawn from agricultural pumpsets using free power for feeding the cattle. A farmer said that cattle formed part and parcel of agriculture and feeding the cattle with water drawn from agricultural pumpsets should not be penalised. An official of the TANGEDCO said water drawn through agricultural motors getting free power should be used only for irrigation, and any other use would be construed as power theft under the Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission Act 2003, and attract penalty. Farmers said that those who utilised the water for feeding cattle were booked under non-bailable sections. Several farmers wanted the district administration to communicate to the Union and State governments the demand of farmers for removing wild boar from the list of wild animals to prevent the Forest Department from taking action against farmers who killed the wild boar which damaged the crops and caused threat to the farmers. An official of the Forest Department said no action would be taken against the farmers who killed wild boar which damaged the crops if they handed over the bodies of the killed pigs to the department. But, action would be taken against them if they used the bodies for meat. “If you cooperate with us, we will also cooperate with you,” he said. K. Kannaia Naidu, a farmer of Erranthangal, said the government should relax rules which prevented the digging of deep borewells in areas classified as ‘dark' (for deficiency in water) as farmers in these areas were badly hit by drought. Refusal of permission to dig deep borewells would further compound their problems. Banks denied loans for digging deep borewells in the ‘dark' areas on account of the rule, he said. Mr. Naidu urged the government to settle the problems of the striking workers of cooperative sugar mills in Vellore district as the strike hampered the sugar cane crushing operations, which affected farmers. The Collector released a booklet on the schemes of the Agriculture Department. C.K. Dhanapal, secretary, Tamil Nadu Farmers Association, Vellore district, received the first copy.