00:10I get a bad fever and cold often, and doctors can't find the reason.
00:16I have five friends, four of them have breathing problems, so someone or the other is always on leave.
00:23Alina is dying.
00:25Every morning at 5.30, her grandfather drops her at the bridge and watches her train for boxing.
00:32As a child who kept falling sick, he thought sports would build her immunity.
00:41This is Ennor in North Chennai.
00:43Every family here has at least one sick person, as per the ground reports by Chennai Climate Action Group.
00:50There have been two oil spills, several ammonia leaks.
00:55Each time, it is the locals who are roped into the clean-up.
00:59Court orders follow, long legal battles begin.
01:03And by then, the media has moved on.
01:05This is also where some of Chennai's finest boxers, cupboard-dee and football players come from.
01:11So, the children here decided to do something about it.
01:16Poo Veresed has been documenting Ennor since he was 14, through photographs, street plays and art exhibitions.
01:23Some of what you will see in this film is through his legs.
01:33We are better judges of the perfect frame because this is our home.
01:36When a fisherman returns after a good catch, there is a specific scent.
01:41Others find it uncomfortable.
01:43To us, it means a good day's work.
01:45These photographs are not just a window into someone's life.
01:49They mirror our home.
02:01Our older generations accepted this as their fate and they didn't fight enough.
02:05And that's why we are in this toxic mess.
02:08Back then, they didn't know this industrial cluster would take away our land, our river and our air.
02:16Once, Ennor was salt pans, fishing boats and farmlands.
02:21In the 1960s, it was re-zoned.
02:24Today, within just a few square kilometers,
02:28coal-based thermal power plants,
02:30petrochemical complexes,
02:32two ports,
02:33a shipbuilding yard,
02:34over 30 industries in the government's red category,
02:38flagged for their highest potential
02:40to pollute air, water and soil.
02:43The river has turned grey.
02:44Fish stocks have declined by about 70%
02:48in the last 10 years
02:50as per studies in the Indian Journal of Science and Technology
02:53and by fishing cooperatives.
02:56Ennor right now is being treated as a sacrifice zone.
02:59We get electricity from that region.
03:01We get everyday petrol, diesel,
03:04all essential petrochemicals related things from Nauchanay.
03:07We have deport here, import-export happens here.
03:10We get labors from this region
03:12because working-class people are predominantly residing here.
03:15This is the foundation
03:18or the strongest pillar that is supporting the other part of Chennai.
03:22The scale of pollution is documented by government monitoring systems.
03:26Between 2019 and 2021,
03:29industries here violated emission norms on more than half the days.
03:33And a 2025 analysis found that
03:36Ennor's thermal power plants violated air pollution norms
03:39or failed to provide valid data nearly half the time during winter.
03:44People have submitted several petitions to every department.
03:48The National Green Tribunal noted several leakages of ash slurry from aging pipes
03:53directly into water bodies
03:55and set deadlines for replacing them.
03:58Most have been missed.
04:00All of us have a cough or a cold or asthma.
04:04We experience heartburn, vomiting, cough.
04:09I have sinus issues.
04:11If I miss my pill for even a day,
04:12my face will get swollen and I'll have a sneeze fit.
04:15A study by Dr. Vishwaja and her team
04:19found that 63% of children under 5 in Ennor
04:23had one or more symptoms of respiratory infection.
04:26Across the rest of Chennai,
04:28that number is 1%.
04:30All you see here is fly ash.
04:34Residue from coal-fired power stations.
04:3850 meters from where Nagama lives.
04:45In Sepakam,
04:46windows stay sealed shut.
04:51Look at the ground.
04:53I sweep this floor at least 4 times a day.
04:55We don't let the children go out and play
04:57because within an hour,
04:59their clothes turn grey.
05:03Dust samples from inside homes
05:05tested by an accredited lab in 2025
05:08and analysed by the Save Ennor Creek campaign
05:11found fluoride, lead, uranium and cadmium on the floor.
05:16The floor where their children crawled,
05:19where toddlers sit in play.
05:21Dr. Soumya Swaminathan,
05:23former chief scientist at the World Health Organization,
05:26says the impact begins even before a child is born.
05:30We know that many of these toxins
05:32to which the mother is exposed,
05:33we know that they go through the lung,
05:35into the blood
05:36and then can circulate all over,
05:39including to the placenta and to the baby.
05:42Babies were exposed to indoor air pollution.
05:45Their lungs actually end up smaller
05:47when they grow into adults.
05:49And so what you end up with
05:50is cognitive impairment,
05:53which means that these children
05:54are less likely to do well in school.
06:00Coach Arun has been training children here for free
06:03for over a decade.
06:04But the air they train in
06:06is the same air that's making them sick.
06:11We used to train next to a fertilizer plant
06:13very early in the morning.
06:14But that is exactly when these companies get notorious.
06:17The kids can't run 200 meters
06:19without feeling exhausted.
06:21So I figured,
06:22let's learn to live with this.
06:24Exercise will at least build their immunity.
06:26But sometimes I question that myself
06:29because here,
06:30while they train,
06:32they are exposed to the pollution.
06:37Sick children miss school.
06:39Some stop going altogether
06:40and some families
06:42have had to make the difficult choice
06:44to send their kids to hostels.
06:48Someone I know sent their child
06:50who has acute asthma
06:51to a hostel in another part of Chennai.
06:54The boy visits his parents on weekends
06:56and every time he comes home,
06:59he falls sick.
07:02The school is six kilometers away.
07:04No bus, no auto.
07:06If your family has a bike,
07:07you make it.
07:08If not,
07:09you depend on strangers for a lift.
07:11High school is even further.
07:14A family here earns about
07:1610,000 to 25,000 rupees.
07:18And at least 6,000 rupees
07:21is set aside for medical issues
07:23every month.
07:24Clinics and hospitals are not adequate.
07:27We spoke to doctors here
07:28who didn't want to be filmed.
07:30Their advice was simple.
07:32Leave Ennur.
07:35But how can I leave
07:36what I call home?
07:37Here I have open space,
07:39a community that will help me.
07:41I can support a family of four
07:43with just 100 rupees a day.
07:45If we move,
07:46we won't be able to afford anything.
07:50Subhashni is at every protest.
07:54She believes someone from this community
07:57needs to be in the room
07:58where decisions are made.
08:00And that's why
08:01she has motivated her daughter
08:02to study fisheries.
08:06If I become part of the fisheries ministry,
08:08I can shape policy.
08:10If I become an inspector,
08:11I can be in charge of this entire district
08:13and build plans that actually protect it.
08:18Meanwhile, teachers and environmentalists
08:21have been working to inform
08:23and educate the children.
08:24Ali Bhasha runs a tuition center
08:26where children study,
08:28ideate and protest.
08:29Alongside him,
08:31organizations like Vettiver Collected
08:33and Chennai Climate Action Group
08:35bring together artists,
08:37environmentalists
08:38and marine biologists
08:39to train children in photography,
08:42art and theatre.
08:44We figured that parents listen
08:46more openly to their children
08:47than to other adults.
08:49So we educated the children first
08:50about the air they were breathing,
08:52the soil they were playing in.
08:54And then we figured out
08:56different mediums
08:56to tell our story.
09:00Kids have put up street plays
09:02miming the toxic walk to school,
09:04photo exhibitions
09:05showing the beauty of Ennor,
09:07a press conference
09:08where children handed report cards
09:10to the industries
09:10violating their air,
09:12and films
09:13shot by the children themselves.
09:16When I was in 9th grade,
09:18I was part of an exhibition
09:19called Refrained.
09:21A picture speaks a thousand words.
09:23And photography became a skill
09:24we could build careers around.
09:30But nothing has really changed.
09:32So many stories have been told.
09:34Every time,
09:35people ask me
09:36if this will stop the pollution.
09:38But there has been
09:39no institutional change.
09:44But there has been change.
09:46The people's efforts
09:47have resulted in all expansion plans
09:50of thermal plants
09:51in Ennor being halted.
09:52For now,
09:53several leaky pipes
09:55have been fixed.
09:55Some companies have set up
09:57medical aid for communities
09:58as health camps,
10:00seasonal checkups.
10:01But the air is still toxic.
10:03The water is still grey.
10:05And the children are still sick.
10:06No new industries in this area.
10:08Until you clean up the mess
10:10that you have created
10:10for years here.
10:11Sticking to the regulatory
10:13frameworks that you are having already.
10:15Responding to the violations,
10:17the Tamil Nadu
10:17Power Generation Corporation Limited
10:19said in 2025
10:20that the thermal power stations
10:23will remain under
10:24continuous scrutiny
10:25and regulatory measures
10:27are being strengthened
10:28to ensure full compliance
10:30and to safeguard the public.
10:32Following years of protests
10:33and court orders,
10:34the government set up
10:35the Manali Ennor Restoration
10:37and Rejuvenation Council
10:38in 2024.
10:40There are now
10:41emergency response plans
10:42for oil spills
10:43and industrial accidents.
10:45An urban primary health centre.
10:47More trees have been planted.
10:48But residents say
10:49that isn't enough.
10:50The pollution remains.
10:52The illnesses remain.
10:54We reached out
10:55to Tamil Nadu
10:56Generation and Distribution Corporation
10:57that is Tangent Co.
10:59and the industry's ministry
11:00for a response
11:01but haven't received an answer.
11:03An official
11:04in the Tamil Nadu
11:05Environment Ministry
11:06speaking on condition
11:07of anonymity
11:08said the newly elected government
11:10is reviewing projects
11:11with an environmental lens
11:12and so there is hope
11:14to clean up Ennor.
11:16The future I see
11:17for Ennor
11:18is that people
11:18will come there
11:19to do bird watching
11:20that they'll come there
11:21to do boating
11:21that there will be
11:23local fishing communities
11:24fishing again
11:26in those waters
11:26like they used to.
11:28And that's what
11:28Alina's grandfather
11:29Jahangir wants.
11:31That is the Ennor
11:32these children
11:33are fighting for.
11:34We didn't have access
11:36to education.
11:36We couldn't question
11:37what was being done to us.
11:39But today
11:39we are making sure
11:40our children care.
11:41I want to become
11:43a police officer
11:43and work here
11:44in Ennor.
11:45I want to leave
11:46this area.
11:47It would definitely
11:48help my health.
11:49Since I've grown up here
11:50I just really love
11:52this place.
11:52I want to grow old
11:53in my home.
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