IBNLIVE talks to some affected people in Sukinda Valley
ENVIRONMENT, Jajpur, MINES and MINERALS September 19th. 2007, 8:33amFollowing are some excerpts from that report.
… Makara Dehuri’s been steadily losing weight. The 35-year-old miner from Ostpala village doesn’t know what’s wrong with him.
Over 2 lakh people in Sukinda suffer from some form of hexavalent chromium poisoning because of the untreated water discharged by the mines into the Brahmani River.
Sukinda contains one largest open cast chromite ore mines in the world. As much as 60 percent of drinking water here is poisoned.
“Drinking water is a major problem for us. If we tell our boss he will suspend us from our job,” says a villager in Orissa, Makara Dehuri.
The recent study has chosen these places for the severity of its toxins, its impact on human health and the extent of damage caused. …
Somebody should file a PIL or sue the government and the mining industry in Sukinda.