Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board’s district unit has forwarded a report to its head office suggesting issuance of closure order to a packaged water bottling unit near here, which was under criticism of farmers in the vicinity for causing pollution. Board’s District Environmental Engineer (Tirupur North) K. Elankumaran told The Hindu that the unit, situated at Muthanampalayam panchayat, was found discharging the rejects coming out of the reverse osmosis plant installed on the premises to desalinate and purify the water, into the open areas causing pollution. “As per the directions from the Board, the unit should have utilised the reject water only for watering the plants grown on the unit premises,” he said. Meeting On Wednesday, P. Rathinasamy, a coconut and maize farmer, and a few others from Muthanampalayam and nearby areas, had come up with an allegation during a meeting organised by the district administration to address the grievances of the farmers that the unit had been functioning without following stipulated operational procedures. “Reject water has been discharged into the nearby irrigation canal and the letting out of the water into the open has polluted the groundwater used for irrigation purposes,” alleged Mr. Rathinasamy. Borewell A large group of farmers from different parts of the district on Wednesday submitted a memorandum to the District Collector stating that the caution deposit of Rs. 5,000 sought for digging borewells should be reversed. “In Tirupur, the diameter of the borewells is extremely less when compared to the wells dug in the eastern districts where the accidents took place. Here, we need to dig many hundreds of meters unlike in the coastal districts to get water and so, the diameter is usually not more than four to six inches,” T. Gopal, a farmer-activist from Kangayam, told reporters. It was found discharging the rejects coming out of reverse osmosis plant into the open areas