Tamil Nadu's soap opera: Environment minister says use of soap causes foam, pollutes Noyyal river

In Tamil Nadu, ministers have bizarre ways of tackling issues related to river water pollution.

If one can recall, in April, Tamil Nadu Co-operatives Minister Sellur Raju had a creative idea of setting afloat sheets of thermocol taped together on the Vaigai dam to prevent the water from evaporating.

And history repeated itself today when Tamil Nadu's Minister for Environment KC Karuppannan, appointed by Jayalalithaa in May 2016, had an outlandish explanation to why Noyyal river is polluted.

Karuppannan claimed that soap used by people created foam which led to pollution in Noyyal.

The environment minister conveniently shrugged off his responsibilities by putting the blame on soap, and people.

Thanks to Karuppannan, science was rendered useless, just as his wayward statement.

SOAP OPERA - FEATURING TN STATE ENVIRONMENT MINISTER KARUPANNAN

Noyyal had water in abundance after Kongu region received a good amount of rainfall in the last few months. However, when people noticed water turning black and layers of foam developing over it, they raised alarm and even held protests.

The concern and protests compelled Karuppannan to hold a meeting with Tanneries and Environment institutions at Thiruppur.

Later he met the press and explained that Noyyal was not polluted by waste generated by leather processing industries. The river water was tested and Karupannan said that the results were negative.

In a statement, Karupannan went on to say, "We couldn't find any industrial waste mixed with the water. Domestic waste, domestic sewage can be considered as the reason for the foam buildup. We all use soap and that mixed with the water caused foam for two days, now the water is clean."

PLOT THICKENS

Karuppannan was quick to claim that Noyyal being polluted is false news and is part of a propaganda against him.

His absurd statement seems to be a paradox since Thiruppur and its surrounding area have several textile industries and recently, 25 such edifices were sealed for flouting environment protection rules.

However, the minister reiterated that it had nothing to do with pollution ruining Noyyal river.