The West Bengal government on December 31 sanctioned funds of rs 6 crore for the cleaning up of the Karala river flowing through Jalpaiguri in the state. The government swung into action after the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute confirmed that presence of abnormally high rate of endosulfan in the Karala river that killed thousands of fish belonging to 33 species. This was reported on November 28.
HIL to take the lead
The Supreme Court today ordered the export of technical grade (raw) endosulfan. The three judge bench comprising chief justice SH Kapadia, justice K S P Radhakrishnan and justice Swatantar Kumar passed the order on December 13.
Pleads to be allowed to export formulations
The Pesticides Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) today filed an interim application in the Supreme Court seeking permission to export the existing stock of endosulfan formulations.
The Supreme Court met today to decide what needed to be done with the unused stock of endosulfan as well as propose alternatives for endosulfan. The endosulfan manufacturers requested for a four week period to submit their proposal to dispose the pesticide. The petitioners, Democratic Youth Federation of India, too will file an affidavit on how, they believe the stocks should be disposed. No call was taken on the alternatives for endosulfan yet. The court will meet again on Nov 11.
Calls for strict monitoring while packaging
The Supreme Court has allowed the exports of 1090.596 MT of technical grade endosulfan for which export orders were received prior to the ban on May 13. But it has reiterated its earlier order, banning the use, sale and production of the pesticide.
The Supreme Court has reserved its order on the exports of endosulfan for Friday September 30. The Court had met today to decide whether exports should be allowed or not. The petitioners , Democratic Youth Federation of India, requested for some more time as they had received the response from the joint committee very late and were unable to frame a response on the exports affidavit.
The complete report of the Calicut Medical College is now on our website. This has replaced the earlier brief version of the report. CSE received several mails in this regard and we were also accused of misleading the public. But here are the facts. The brief version of the report that was, on our website for a long time, was actually distributed during a press conference in Delhi by the then ex Kerala health minister. This study was released before the Indian contingent went for the Stockholm Convention to decide the fate of endosulfan.
'The industry has no experience of disposing pesticides and the Ministry of Environment and Forest have not provided any definite procedure for the purpose'- This was the reply of the Supreme Court appointed joint committee on endosulfan.
The Supreme Court on August 5 gave a three week extension to the Joint Committee to submit in its interim report details on the possibility of exports or disposal off the existing stocks of endosulfan.