Centre’s report on country’s most evironmentally damaged factory clusters shows...
Gujarat’s Ankleshwar and Vapi have yet again topped the list of ‘critically polluted’ industrial clusters in the country. A first-of-its-kind environmental assessment report prepared by the Union ministry of environment and forests and released by the Central Pollution Control Board, has identified 88 pollution hotspots in India. Of this, 10 have been rated as ‘critically’ or ‘alarmingly’ polluted.
What’s worse, while Ahmedabad may be improving its air quality, industrial pollution here continues to be a matter of concern. The state’s commercial capital is ranked 22 for industrial pollution, Bhavnagar 39, Junagadh 41, Vadodara 57, Rajkot 59 and Surat at 79.
Called the Golden Corridor, Ankleshwar and Vapi industrial estates have long been notorious for polluting the land, air and water of the region. Industries in the area have been accused of dumping the effluent discharged from their industries without first treating them completely. The adverse impact of this pollution on the health of residents has for long been a bone of contention between the industries and the environmental activists in the area.
Union minister of state for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh has called for a moratorium on industrial activity in these areas. He had already announced after his visit to Ankleshwar in September that no new industries would be given permission here till they spruced up their facility to meet the laid down standards.
Gujarat’s principal secretary environment and forests, SK Nanda, concedes that there might be some concern over the Union minister’s decision to stall Environment Clearances for setting up more industries in this area. But the state’s plan to bring the situation under control in the industrial estates where uncontrolled, large-scale pollution takes place, is very much in place, he said.
“It will harm everyone if pollution levels are not controlled. We have given ourselves the deadline of April 2010 to clean up. In some industrial estates, the pipelines within the area connecting them to the Central Effluent Treatment Plant are not properly connected while, in others, the water released from the industries for CETP already violate the set norms.
All these will be controlled,” he said.
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