Pasighat: Residents of several villages in the Ruksin area of East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, are demanding the immediate relocation of a silicon factory operating in the Niglok Industrial Growth Centre (IGC), alleging significant air and water pollution.
Local villagers have alleged that the silicon factory operated by M/s Aether Alloys LLP is posing health hazards to the surrounding villages and adjacent areas of Ruksin sub-division.
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United under the ‘IGC Pollution-Affected People’s Forum’, residents of seven villages around the Niglok IGC recently petitioned the Deputy Commissioner of East Siang district, demanding his intervention for the relocation of the hazardous silicon industry.
The forum also alleged gross violation of the Factories Act, 1948 against the silicon factory run by M/s Aether Alloys LLP in Niglok IGC, urging the authority to initiate action against the industrial unit.
In their petition, the villagers noted that M/s Alloy Craft LLP and M/s Arunachal Ferro Alloy have applied to the state’s Industry Department to establish two more silicon factories in Niglok IGC, a move the local community strongly opposes.
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The IGC Pollution-Affected People’s Forum general secretary, Onong Tadeng, alleged that the industrial authority obtained consent from local gaon burahs for establishing the silicon factory without informing them of its implications.
Furthermore, he stated that the industrial authority conducted neither a public hearing nor an environmental impact assessment involving local villagers and other stakeholders at that time.
Meanwhile, an official from the district’s Industry Department stated that the state’s Industries Commissioner, Saugat Biswas, along with senior officials from the Industry, Trade & Commerce, and Skill Development Departments, visited Niglok IGC on Saturday to meet with representatives of the IGC-Pollution Affected People’s Forum and hear their grievances.
During the visit, the commissioner and other officials assured the local people that they would convene a meeting with the State Pollution Control Board in Itanagar soon and issue directives to assess the pollution levels caused by the silicon industry in Niglok, the officials asserted.
The team also assured that they would take necessary steps to resolve the problems faced by the local people immediately after the technical experts performed the pollution test, the official added.
Notably, the state’s Minister for Industries & Commerce, Nyalo Dukan, along with a host of MLAs and officials of the company, ceremonially opened the silicon factory on December 10, 2024.