The story appears on

Page A8

August 28, 2014

GET this page in PDF

Free for subscribers

View shopping cart

Related News

Home » Nation

Villagers unhappy with toxic plant compensation

FIVE years after going to court, 394 residents of Qingpuling Village in southeast China’s Fujian Province finally won a lawsuit against a local waste processing plant which was found to emit cancer-causing dioxins.

Fujian Solid Waste Disposal Co was recently ordered to pay nearly 6 million yuan (US$976,626) to the villagers for causing damage to their health and the eco-system. The villagers, however, are not satisfied with the amount.

The 394 plaintiffs actually represent a total of nearly 600 villagers who had inhaled toxic gas for 14 years. The compensation amount works out to a mere 6,000 yuan per person, they argue.

The plant, built in the village in 2000, was designed to mainly dispose medical wastes from the provincial capital Fuzhou, nearly 30 kilometers from the village. But, dioxins became the villagers’ nightmare, China National Radio reported yesterday.

Dioxin, a highly toxic chemical, is linked to cancer, birth defects and other disabilities.

Liu Jinmei, a lawyer for the villagers, said the plant was built upstream and on the hill cove, meaning villagers were living around the plant and drinking foul water. Also, villagers used water from ravine streams near the plant to irrigate their fields, leading to tainted crops.

It was reported that the plant was first managed by environmental authorities but in 2006, it was sold and became a private-owned plant. Due to the plant’s remote location and a lack of supervision, it is believed to have illegally dumped toxic wastes on many occasions, CNR reported.

Starting from 2003, trees surrounding the plant failed to bear fruit and some died. The thick smoke, generated from burning waste, also blackened the ravine streams, villagers said.

According to data provided by Liu, eight villagers have died of cancer from May 2009 to January 2010.

In 2009, 394 villagers filed a lawsuit against the plant.

In October 2010, the Minhou County People’s Court accepted the case.

The judicial report said that investigators found excessive levels of dioxins, multi-thousand times higher than the limit, in the village.

Villagers have since moved out of the polluted areas and the local government is seeking state funds to help the relocated residents.

The plant, meanwhile, has rectified its errors and is still in operation, CNR reported.




 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend