When Umaira, 48, opened the door of her modest rented house near Pathalam Bridge Road in the Eloor-Edayar industrial belt in Ernakulam district, she looked tired. It was around 8.30 in the morning, the cough that started last night lasted much longer than usual. His eyes remained dry as the persistent cough did not leave him.
“As soon as the wind blows carrying the pungent smell, I often start gasping,” she says, pointing towards the Adyar industrial area on the other side of the Periyar river that flows nearby. The pungent wind has equally affected the lives of her family members, including her 52-year-old husband Kabir, a lottery ticket seller, their daughter and three grandchildren.
“I am equally worried about my grandchildren. We have been living in this house for more than a decade. Some of our neighbors have moved out, unable to bear the situation,” she says in a strained voice.
The continuous ambient air quality monitoring station established by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board near the Eloor depot has become inactive as the annual maintenance contract of the facility has expired in February 2025. Due to the system being non-functional, the public does not have access to data on the air quality index level in the industrial city. | Photo courtesy: RK Nitin
Two houses away, Sreekumar, 60, had recently returned from the Employees State Insurance Corporation hospital near Pathalam, where his wife, Geeta, 58, was taken in the morning after she complained of breathing problems.
Once an employee of Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore in Udyogmandal, it was a natural decision for him to settle somewhere close to the industrial area. But over the years, resignation gave way to hope. “We have learned to live with it,” he says. “The air was not so heavy when we came here almost two decades ago.” He recalls that the decline began five or six years ago, when odor-producing units sprung up along the banks of the Periyar river.
Life remains miserable for many residents like Umaira and Sreekumar in the Eloor-Edayar industrial area as the recurring foul smell and persistent air pollution continue without any sign of respite.
As per Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) estimates, there are about 350 industrial units in the Edyar Industrial Area of Ernakulam District Industries Centre, located in Kadungallur Grama Panchayat limits.
In 2022, the foul smell caused by the operation of a total of 20 bone meal units, chicken-waste rendering plants, fish-oil extraction units and rubber-processing facilities in Adyar prompted the PCB to initiate a study.
A study conducted by the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, to assess the extent and sources of emissions revealed high non-compliant odor limit levels – up to 2,50,00,000 odor units per cubic meter – in one faulty unit.
Incidents of uncontrolled emissions from industrial units in the Eloor-Edayar region have taken a toll on the lives of nearby residents. Lack of consistent enforcement and strict implementation of environmental norms has worsened the situation. | Photo courtesy: RK Nitin
Although there is no Indian standard set for odor emissions, the nuisance limit level is defined as the concentration at which a small portion of the population (less than 5%) does not experience discomfort for a small portion of the time (less than 2%), the report said.
It was revealed that most of the units had inadequate storage facilities for raw materials and lacked proper ventilation and refrigeration systems for storing raw materials. Inadequate closure of reactor vessels, reliance on crude odor emission control technologies during processing, and improper design and specification of odor-emission control units were some of the shortcomings identified by the study.
The report states, “Although odors may not directly cause health problems, toxic irritants associated with odors may cause poor health or respiratory symptoms. Secondary effects may include nausea, insomnia, and restlessness in some individuals. Strong odors may irritate the nose and cause breathing difficulties or symptoms in people with asthma. On the economic front, loss of property value near odor-producing operations or industries and in environments affected by odors is partially offset by offensive odors. is the result of.”
Although the board had issued closure notices to 20 erring units between April 2024 and January 2025, it was relaxed after the board’s environmental monitoring centre, Eloor, assessed that the management had implemented the recommended corrective measures.
Elderly people living in the areas near Adyar Industrial Area are worried as they do not see any solution to the problem. Coming out of his flour mill located next to his house near St Jude’s Church near Pathalam, 70-year-old TT Varghese expressed his concern. He says, “The authorities should at least take steps to stop the unbearable stench – the smell like rotting meat that hangs in the air. It is unbearable.”
“Given the pollution scenario, we have put on hold our plans to shift to a safer location after real estate prices fell,” he regretted.
Health workers are aware of the impact of pollution on residents. Deepti Santosh, an accredited social health activist in Ward 6 of the municipality, says most of the affected residents are suffering from respiratory problems. She says, “Apart from odor pollution, black fine particles visible on plant leaves and the exterior of houses are also causing trouble for residents. Doctors often advise them to shift to another place. But it is not so easy for most residents.”
Despite residents’ concerns, PCB officials claim the odor problem is under control. “Biofilter units for odor control are functional in about 90% of the bone meal, meat rendering and rubber processing units,” says PK Baburajan, chief environmental engineer, Ernakulam.
He further said, “Weekly review is being conducted by the representatives of the Industries Department and the management of the units.”
V. Narendra Kumar, president of the Adyar Small-Scale Industries Association, says remedial action taken in the last two years has resulted in improvement in odor control measures in 21 bone meal, waste rendering, rubber and fish processing units.
He claims, “There have been no major complaints in the last month. If there are any shortcomings, they are being rectified immediately.”
The Industries Department has also given a clean chit. “There has been no major issue of pollution in the Adyar area since the large-scale fishing incident in 2024,” says Najeeb PA, manager of the District Industries Centre.
However, former civic representative, Neethu MR, denies buying a board position. “The putrid smell of processing of raw chicken and other waste wafts both in the morning and in the evening,” she complains. She adds that the odor problem becomes particularly acute during and after festivals, when huge quantities of raw material are brought to the plants and bone meal units providing chicken-waste.
Environmentalists have also expressed their protest over the ‘gross violation of environmental norms’ committed by the guilty entities.
Purushan Eloor, spokesperson for Periyar Malinikarna Virudha Samiti, which campaigns for the conservation of the Periyar river, cites inordinate delays on the part of the PCB in ensuring that industrial units comply with various environmental norms.
“Even 20 years after the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee pulled up the government and industrial units in the Eloor-Edayar industrial belt for violating environmental norms, pollution control measures have yet to prove effective. This continues to be the case. In a recent incident, a huge pile of waste from a chicken waste rendering unit was found close to the Periyar river on January 25, 2026. The stench from the site was unbearable,” he complains.
Suresh Muttathil, former president of Kadungallur panchayat, says wards near the Adyar industrial area face the problem of odour, especially during rains.
“However, the impact is minimal compared to the problems faced by people in Pathalam and Eloor,” he says.
Environmentalists have also pointed to shortcomings on the part of the PCB in tracking pollution sources and conducting regular air quality monitoring. A senior board official admitted that the agency lacked olfactory meters to measure odours.
“The continuous ambient air quality monitoring station at Eloor remains non-functional after the annual maintenance contract expires in February 2025,” he says.
Although the Eloor Municipality lacks official data on the health effects caused by air pollution, former chairman AD Sujil says that around 3,200 families in the area are provided 500 liters of free drinking water per day following the shortage of drinking water due to industrial pollution of water sources.
Health experts have regularly warned about the effects of regular exposure to various types of pollutants. Rajeev Jayadevan, convenor of the research cell of the Indian Medical Association, Kerala, says symptoms like nausea, vomiting and headache can sometimes be biological signals that the body needs to escape from a harmful environment.
He added, “Industrial emissions of chemicals can cause chronic airway irritation, exacerbating asthma and existing lung diseases. Symptoms such as headaches and nausea may result from airborne toxins triggering the brain’s chemoreceptor trigger zone—the tendency to detect and avoid toxic exposures.”
Former vice-chancellor of Kerala Fisheries and Ocean Studies University, Kochi, B. Madhusudan Kurup says the time has come for officials to study the carrying capacity of the Eloor-Edayar industrial area.
He believes, “We are witnessing unbridled expansion of industrial units without following norms. An environmental audit will reveal environmental violations and systemic lapses.”
Mary George, 73, looked pensive as she sat on a chair in her verandah overlooking the Adyar stretch of the Periyar river. “We have learned to live under constant threat of pollution,” she says, as her son Jomon, 42, who runs a travel agency, nods in agreement.
Due to the bad smell and pollution, the lives of the residents are being adversely affected, making their existence even more bleak.
