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Vishwas Nagar, Delhi, India
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Vishwas Nagar is located in the eastern part of the city of New Delhi, India. New Delhi is the capital of India and considered the fourth most polluted city in the world by the World Bank. Zoned as a residential area, much of the industry in Vishwas Nagar is illegal. A government estimate claims that 70% of the buildings in the area are used for industry.
Vishwas Nagar is the home of one of the biggest PVC manufacturing areas in Asia. There are no official population estimates of the area, but there are an estimated 2,000 factories and 20,000 workers in the area. The buildings that house the factories are often multi-use, meaning that the ground floor is used industrially while the rest of the building is residential. Residents are forced to face the resulting barrage of toxins daily, which comes in the form of air pollution, and contaminated water and food. Workers face an even greater threat: eight hours a day, six days a week in unventilated factories with little or no safety gear exposes workers to toxic chemical dust and fumes. During blackouts, the factories get power from large diesel generators that expose both workers and residents to carcinogenic chemicals like aromatic hydrocarbons.
PVC production and recycling involves the use and creation of many toxins, including polychlorinated dioxins, phthalates, ethylene dichloride, and PCBs. Dioxins are carcinogens that are considered one of the most toxic substances produced by industry. Phthalates, which are suspected of causing reproductive problems in children, join the water supply when the water that is used to cool the semi-melted PVC wire is dumped into drains. The phthalates then bio-accumulate in fish and other aquatic organisms. When humans drink the water or eat fish from contaminated water, the phthalates accumulate in their body fat.
There are also reports of electroplating plants that “release cyanide, chromium, nickel and zinc in large quantities.”
The Delhi government is considering converting Vishwas Nagar to an official industrial area, a plan with which many local opinion makers disagree. However, closing or regulating the industries is also a problematic solution because of the resulting loss of jobs; workers often brave chemical exposure at work because there are simply no other alternatives.
— Devang Shah
