300 tonnes of toxic rice dumped off Lakshadweep
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The Lakshadweep administration on Saturday night started to dump 300 tonnes of damaged rice off Minicoy coast, without clearance from the Environment and Forest Ministry.
The rice had been kept at the Co-operative Supply and Marketing Society at Minicoy Island since 2005 after it was found not good for consumption. Social and environmental activists fear that the dumping of rice which was found to have excess urea content would lead to destruction of marine life.
Sources said 407 bags of rice were dumped in the first phase on Saturday night. Though a Chief Conservator of Forests is stationed in the islands, the administration that issued an order to dump the rice 12 nautical miles off the coast, did not care to seek his opinion.
Interestingly, no action was taken by the administration against those responsible for bringing the spurious rice to the islands in 2005. “It appears that they are misusing a provision under the law that food waste can be disposed of 12 nautical miles away from land, which is only a provision to facilitate mariners to dispose cooked food waste,” said Dr Muneer, an activist in the island.
But an official at National Institute of Ocean Technology in Chennai said that since the sea has a depth of 1,000 metre at 12 nautical mile, the dumping of bio-degradable waste may not be a great risk to marine life.
“But the administration should have obtained an environmental clearance,” the official who did not want to be identified said.
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