These images from the Sonbhadra region in NE India look at the health effects in a region with many thermal electric plants. This area, just south of Varanasi, is known as the “Energy Capital” of India because there are so many power plants. Most of my work in Sonbhahra was around the Rihand Damn where many of the power plants are. People are sick, possibly from mercury, fluoride, and other toxins. Some studies have been done to show this; some research as early as 1998, which was never fully reported. We see deformed hands on a 16-year-old; women and men bent over, in pain and extreme fatigue, bony, painful lumps at elbows and knees and where ligaments attach to the bones, a girl born with congenital disabilities.
The Center for Science and Environment in New Delhi announced, “Sonbhadra is a ‘Minamata style disaster’ waiting to happen.”
The lives of the people I met haunt me daily. Despite efforts by local environmental groups to raise awareness, the plight of the people of Sonbhadra is not widely known. It is a depressing place with coal dust in the air, coating everything. The young people I met were scared for their physical health future. Many simply want the water to drink that is not contaminated. The people of Sonbhadra watch the pollution getting worse and wonder if anyone will listen.
