Eloor smells like it is dying.
Once it was an island of rich farmland on the Periyar River, 17 km (10.5 miles) from the Arabian sea, teeming with fish. Now, a stench of putrid flesh permeates the air. Most of the fish are gone. Locals say people living near the river are hardly even having children anymore.
Yet here is Shaji, alone in his small fiber boat, fishing with his handmade rod, the southern Indian state of Kerala’s massive industrial smokestacks behind him.
Some 300 chemical companies belch out dense fumes, almost warning people to stay away. The waters have taken on dark hues. Shaji, a fisherman in his late 40s who only uses one name, is among the few who remain.
“Most of the people here are trying to migrate from this place. If we look at the streets, it’s almost empty. There are no jobs and now we cannot even find work on the river,” said Shaji, displaying the few pearl spot fish he managed to catch during an entire day in March.
Many of the petrochemical plants here are more than five decades old. They produce pesticides, rare earth elements, rubber processing chemicals, fertilizers, zinc-chrome products and leather treatments.
Some are government owned, including Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore, established in 1943, Indian Rare Earths Limited, and Hindustan Insecticides Limited.
Anwar C. I., who uses initials for his last name in the custom of southern India, is a member of a Periyar anti-pollution committee and a private contractor who lives in the area. He said residents have grown accustomed to the reek that seems to hang over the area like a heavy curtain, enveloping everything and everyone.
The groundwater is now fully contaminated and the government’s contention that the businesses benefit people is wrong, he said.
As far back as 1998, scientists at the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies found some 25 species of fish had disappeared from the region. Experts have found contamination in vegetables, chicken, eggs, fruits and tuber crops from the region.
Chandramohan Kumar, a professor in Chemical Oceanography at Cochin University of Science and Technology, has researched Periyar River pollution in several studies.
“We have observed pollution from various organic fertilizers, metallic components. Toxic metals like cadmium, copper, zinc and all the heavy metals can be detected there,” Kumar said.
India also has a special environmental court called the National Green Tribunal. A decade ago, it ordered the government to create an action plan to restore water quality in the river to protect the environment and public health. It also ordered the formation of a monitoring committee.
The Pollution Control Board responded that it recently began a study that could lead to curbing air pollution and reducing the intolerable stench in the area largely caused, it said, by bone meal fertilizer factories and meat rendering plants. It is expected to be finalized in May.
The board dismissed allegations that it does not actively pursue polluters and said it ensures no untreated waste liquids are discharged into the river.
Trainees with the Pollution Control Board do daily trips to collect samples from six different points along the river.
“But we don’t know what happens to those samples,” said resident Adam Kutty. “What’s the point of having all the money in the world and no water to drink?”
Omana Manikuttan, a long-time resident of Eloor, said for years she and her neighbors have not eaten fish from the river. Eating them leads to serious diarrhea and tastes like pesticides, even after cooking, Manikuttan said.
As the blame game continues, the grass and trees in the area appear wilted as if scorched by the noxious fumes. The birds seem to have been driven away by the air. Without official action, the pall over the region and its residents is unlikely to lift soon.
-20260906063831.webp)
