Gujarat: Experts seek action plan to fight pollution

It is not just imperative to make industry follow norms to reduce pollution, strategies need to be devised to ensure proper compliance said experts at a function as part of the World Environment Day celebration in the city.

The event, that was attended by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani saw the launch of the first Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) for Particulate Matter (PM 2.5 & PM 10). The scheme will involve setting of permits by the state, which allows a certain amount of pollution by industrial clusters. Units within these clusters that emit less than their quota will be able to sell the extra limit to others in the unit who have failed to reduce their emission.

Rohini Pande of the Harvard Kennedy School who has been working with the GPCB in ensuring compliance and audit of pollution norms and their implementation said that India has one of the strongest environmental laws yet implementation remains a challenge. 

“All the 102 cities in India are in violation of the national ambient air quality standards. While working in Surat, we found that almost all the units that were surveyed had pollution control instruments installed; but most of them were either never switched on or never properly maintained,” said Pande on the challenges of implementation of such norms.

Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, chairperson of the National Green Tribunal said that air, water and soil were under serious threat.

“The thing about pollution is that be it air or water, once polluted, it is very difficult to reverse the situation,” said Goel, adding that the act of polluting was as serious an offence as rape and murder.

He further said that no state in the country had a plan for solid waste management so far. “In the last five years, the air quality in 102 cities have never been below the prescribed limit,” said Goel.

Rupani said that there was a need for stringent measures given the fact that the state will attract more investors, particularly in the chemical sector. He said the deep sea discharge for effluents being set up by the state for industrial clusters in Ankleshwar, Vatva and Jetpur was a step in this direction.

Stringent measures

Every city of the country are in violation of the national ambient air quality standards, say experts. They called for the need of stringent measures in state given the fact that it will attract more investors, particularly in the chemical sector. Deep sea discharge for effluents being set up by the state for industrial clusters in Ankleshwar, Vatva and Jetpur was a step in this direction, they said.