Press Statement 4-nation Fact Finding Team Denounces Aqua Farm Pollution, Condemns State Violence Against Dalit Villages 17. May 2007

17 May, 2007. Marakkanam -- Members of a fact-finding team, including medical doctors and social activists from the Philippines, India, Malaysia and Bangladesh, concluded a 2-day investigation of human rights violations against Dalit villagers protesting against a polluting shrimp farm in Kolathur village, Kancheepuram district. The team, convened by Tamil Nadu Women's Forum and Malaysia-based Pesticide Action Network Asia Pacific, visited Kolathur and nearby areas including the Chinna Aqua Farm, and held extensive discussions with villagers, particularly women. Sharing its interim findings at a press conference, the team called for immediate closure of the illegal shrimp pond, and urged the District Administration to withdraw the nuisance cases filed against villagers, investigate the complaints of police atrocities and compensate villagers for livelihoods lost due to pollution. The team recounted that Kolathur was a predominantly Dalit village with a population of more than 4000 people, most of whom were sharecroppers with no land to their names. Gathering fish and shrimp from the Kazhuvili or backwaters is the primary occupation for all adult women, earning them about Rs. 100 per day. Having served upper-caste landlords for more than four generations, the Dalit villagers were living under medieval conditions with no land to their name, no electricity and no rights over the produce of the lands in their upkeep. Since 2005, a shrimp farm operated by F. Bartholomeo, allegedly a politically well-connected Chennai businessman, has been discharging toxic effluents from its aquaculture ponds spread over 2.5 acres of agricultural lands. The businessman is said to have acquired more than 10 acres of land. The team met numerous Dalit fisher-women who complained of serious skin disorders and dimming of vision due to their exposure to the effluent-contaminated backwaters. Rather than use nets or hooks, Dalit women catch shrimp by stooping in water and running their hands through the riverbed. The complaints of skin and eye disorders are consistent with what we know of the common chemicals used and released from Indian aquaculture ponds, said team members and medical doctors Dr. Romeo Quijano and Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde. Chemicals like Malachite Green that are used freely in Indian aquaculture are banned in other countries due to their carcinogenic effects, the physicians said. Dr. Quijano is a professor at the medical school of the University of Philippines, while community health expert Dr. Gaitonde coordinates a health advocacy program with Bangalore-based Community Health Cell. The team verified that the aqua farm, which was employing intensive aquaculture techniques, was operating in violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 1991, on several counts. The farm is located in an area reclaimed from the backwaters. Groundwater is abstracted through bore wells within the CRZ, and untreated effluents are transported through the CRZ and dumped in the backwaters. At the time of visit, the team confirmed villagers' complaints about the seepage of bright yellow-coloured effluents from the aqua ponds. Villagers also reported that cattle found grazing anywhere near the aqua farm were killed by the aqua farm workers in an attempt to intimidate the villagers. The loss of fishing and agricultural livelihoods, due to the aqua farm, has literally broken the fragile household economies of local villagers. Increased medical costs for treatment of pollution-induced illnesses, and the legal costs for handling the numerous false cases against villagers by the police has impoverished the village. The District Administration and the police have behaved in a deplorable and discriminatory manner. Rather than investigate the complaints of the villagers, the Police and District Authorities have used violence and harassment to suppress the local struggle. Villagers complained that police action on the village was accompanied by brutal lath charges and the use of derogatory language. Going by the abysmal condition of the local villagers and the abusive and violent handling of the Kolathur struggle by the District Administration, the Fact Finding Team is convinced that this is a clear case of "environmental racism." The team found that not only were the villagers suffering from historical oppression, but that their lack of awareness and social vulnerability was being exploited by a District Administration that has shamelessly acted in collusion with the owner of the shrimp farm.
The Team has recommended as follows: 1. Chinna Aqua Farm should be closed immediately and the pollution of the backwaters must end. 2. Complaints of police brutalities, including their racially abusive behaviour, should be investigated and acted upon, including by way of ordering compensation for victims of such brutality. 3. The State should, at the polluter's cost, facilitate villagers to conduct a community wide health and environment surveys. 4. The State must get the Farm owner to compensate villagers for lost livelihoods. 5. The State should target Kolathur villagers as a priority for distribution of land under the 2-acre scheme of the Government.
The Fact Finding Team includes: Kushi Kabir , Bangladesh, Chair of Asia Solidarity Against Industrial Aqua Culture. Dr. Ujaini Halim, West Bengal, India. works with the Institute for Motivating Self-Employment (IMSE) and Food First International and Action Network (FIAN). Her PhD was on Shrimp Industry and the impact on rural communities. Dr. Romeo Quijano, Philippines is a Pharmacologist, a Medical Doctor and Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of the Philippines. He is also the President of PAN Philippines. Dr. Rakhal Gaitonde is a Community Health Physician researching occupational and environmental health. He works with Community Health Cell, Bangalore, India. Burnad Fatima is from Tamil Nadu Women's Forum, India. She is a Human Rights Defender. Sarojeni Rangam, is the Executive Director of Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP), based in Penang, Malaysia
Tamil Nadu Women's Forum 76/37, G 1. 'Z' Block, 9th Street, Anna Nagar, Chennai - 600 040 Tel & Fax : 044 42170702	Pesticide Action Network - Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) P.O. Box 1170 , 10850 Penang, Malaysia. Tel : + 604 657 0271 / 6560381 Fax : + 604 658 3960
Photos of fact finding mission can be found at the webpage of People's Coalition on Food Sovereignty (PCFS) (Special thanks to Ms. Norly Grace Mercado, Secretariat of PCFS)