The seemingly scornful behavior was an act of protest against the mill´s carefree dumping of waste liquid into the Chapani River, a major source of water for the VDC locals.[break]
The irate women demanded that the mill stop draining the wastes into the river and build a reservoir to store it.
"The practice of dumping the wastes into the river has polluted ground water in the VDC. Locals who extract the water for household use have been infected with diarrhea, itchy skins, and their clothes and vessels have been damaged. If you leave the water in a vessel for a few hours, the water turns black," said Jagdish Sah, a local from Dhurkauli VDC-1.
The locals had lodged complaints about the pollution with the concerned authorities a couple of times, but all their pleas went unheard.
Durga Bahadur Bomjon, a local, said the residents of Shira Tole in Dhurkauli VDC-1 have been forced to use water polluted by the wastes from the mill for two years now
The mill has been operating a distillery in Hariban as well.
"The mill runs for around six months but the distillery operates whole year round. It has made our lives miserable," said Bomjon.
“As the water spilt by the mills remain stagnant, it has brought various diseases to our village in addition to the surge in the population of houseflies," added Bomjon.
Locals of Shira tole said that they have been compelled to walk 2 km to fetch drinking water from another tole.
"The water from the hand pump produced rashes in my skin which later turned into wounds. That´s when I decided to use the water from another source regardless of the distance," said Jamiya Devi Paswan, 55, a local of Shira tole. "Even the cattle refuse to drink the water," added Paswan.
Jha, the general manager of the mill, said that the company has already started looking into the problem.
"We have to first make sure whether the source of pollution of river and ground water is the waste from the mill or from somewhere else," said Jha.
The mill said it generates 1,50,000 liters of waste liquids on a daily basis.
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