Locals flag chemical odour from factory near Vedanthangal

Residents say the intensity of the chemical odour varies, but is high when it rains; Sun Pharma says its state-of-the-art treatment facility adheres to the Central and State pollution control laws

A persistent chemical odour permeates the air in a stretch of the Melavalampettai-Nelvoy Road at Sathamai village in Maduranthakam. The only explanation, according to local residents, was the presence of the manufacturing plant of the Sun Pharmaceutical Ltd. They say the odour from the factory is mild on some days but intense on other days.

Residents of Sathamai and Pudupattu villages said after years of living around the factory, they are now accustomed to the odour. “It is more intense at night than during the day,” said K. Kaathavarayan. He pointed out that the odour is strong when it rains.

Lakshmi, a resident of Sathamai, said the smell was stronger during rainy season. Caretaker of a farm, Ms. Lakshmi added that the quality of groundwater had been severely affected in the last decade. She said the farm, which used to be filled with guava and orange trees, now had teak trees on 50% of the land as “the water has gone bad”.

The company’s application for expanding its operations caused uproar among locals and activists, both due to the depletion in quality of groundwater and the factory’s proximity to Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2022 had asked Sun Pharma to pay ₹58.2 lakh compensation for causing groundwater pollution. The NGT fined the company ₹10 crore for operating without an environmental clearance between 1994 and 2006. However, the Madras High Court stayed the NGT’s ₹10 crore penalty.

The Sun Pharma’s ‘Environment Management Plan’, a document released in 2019, said as part of odour management, local exhaust ventilation at storage locations were connected to scrubbers, which were used to filter out harmful substances before factory exhaust is released into the environment.

Yuvan Alves, a nature educator who takes schoolchildren on educational trips around the sanctuary, said on some days the smell was strong enough to cause headache to children.

S. Kannathasan, resident of Vellaputhur village near Vedanthangal, said the intensity of the odour varied. “You can’t tell which days the smell will be strong. Maybe on days when they increase production of certain substances,” he said.