Keeping TNPCB on its toes...

IT IS 9-30 a.m. at the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's Complaints Cell. The phone rings. ``Good Morning, TNPCB''. ``Saar...this vendor is shouting Keerai... Keerai... at 8 a.m. in front of my house daily. Will you please do something to stop it? The decibel level is so high that it makes me feel as though she's going to kill me,'' complains one from Adambakkam.

Or there are callers from Kovilpatti, Tiruppur, Cuddalore or Coimbatore. There are also complaints of air horns or excess smoke from Government or private buses.

These and many more complaints on a whole lot of issues on pollution keep streaming into the complaints cell of the TNPCB which has expanded its function of receiving complaints on industrial pollution.

There are also those who come in person like the one from Thangam Colony, Anna Nagar, to complain about a `Verkadalai Barfi' factory which has smoke coming out of its stack ``all 24 hours of the day''.

A phone call costs just one rupee. Mr. M. Gunasekaran, Assistant Public Relations Officer of the TNPCB, says ``out of an average of 50 calls, 25 will be related to the Board. The rest we refer to Chennai Corporation or Panchayats or other local bodies''.

Callers notwithstanding, there are repeat callers too. Those who are unaware of rules which say that a period of 15 days should be given for a show-cause notice, keep insisting each day on the action that has been taken.

``And we get a good deal of flak if we ask them to wait,'' the APRO says, adding that some calls are so weird that he has stopped recording them in the register.

Here is a sample conversation. ``Kindly look into the tinkering noise by automobile workshops in our residential area''. ``Will you please disclose your name and address?''. ``No... that's not possible, we'll be targeted''. ``Will you at least tell us who's doing the tinkering?''. ``Sorry, that too is not possible''. ``Please tell us what you want us to do''. ``One of you can stand in the road and see for yourself and take action. ''Thank you. We'll refer this to the Corporation``.

Most of the complaints are about polluting MTC buses or autorickshaws which are referred to the departments concerned.

There are hilarious ones too.

A senior citizen from Velachery came up to the office.

His complaint: ``There are 10 buffaloes in our street in Velachery which stink. Please clean them up!''

Another, who resides near a teashop, says ``they are putting the same song, `Kattipudi Kattipudida' every day. Please tell them to play different songs''. ``Food smell from this bonda, bajji and biriyani shop simply intolerable''.

Complainants are getting educated too on dioxins, plastics and the like. One from Nandambakkam has written a rather erudite epistle, asking the Board to close a plastics manufacturing unit behind his house in Nandambakkam. ``Dioxins emitted from burning plastics are harmful carcinogens and can cause birth defects''.

And the TNPCB, for its part, will have a full-fledged complaints cell when the Chennai office moves into Panagal Buildings next month.

By Akila Dinakar

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