As the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), lifts the six-year-old moratorium imposed under the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI), Maharashtra Pollution Board Control (MPCB) officials confirmed it’s the result of their four year long action plan, put in place with the help of IIT Bombay and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). The local environmentalists on the other hand confirmed that while there is a considerable amount of change in air pollution levels, water and land pollution has remained an area of concern.
After monitoring the critically polluted areas (CPA) by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the ministry had imposed a moratorium on around 35 polluting industries in 43 CEPI areas on January 13, 2010 including Chandrapur industrial cluster.
The vicinity, comprising industrial areas of MIDC Chandrapur, Tadali, Ghuggus and Ballapur, had secured very poor CEPI score of 81.93 in 2013. Focusing on the critical level of pollution, MPCB was asked to put in place an action plan for the cluster in order to bring down the level of pollution with reference to the respective environmental component.
Talking about the current CEPI of 54.42, Joint Director of MPCB, V M Motghare said that after the assessment in 2013, he personally made two presentations to MoEFCC regarding the necessary action plan for the cluster.
“The extensive action plan included locating sources polluting air, water and land quality of the area. We focused on sewerage treatment done by industries, took action against those polluting the natural bodies and ensured up gradation of the Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) of the industries,” said Mothghare. Additional SWMP stations are also planned at Wardha River to increase the efficiency of water affluence.
MPCB confirmed that using latest technology for sewerage treatment and air pollution control played a vital role to bring down the index.
“Implementation of stringent norms for air polluting industries such as sponge iron, thermal power plants, washeries, cements plants along with effective monitoring and increased vigilance helped in building up the air quality index,” added Mothghare.
Moreover, the central and state environmental audit committees are notified by ministry to take extra precaution during appraisal of projects in Chandrapur and prescribe the requisite stringent safeguard measures, to ensure that the environmental quality is not deteriorated further in the CPA.
Surech Chopne, founder of Chandrapur-based NGO, Green Planet Society and member of MoEFCC’s Regional Empower Committee said that while the closure of 30-35 coal, metal and thermal industries has resulted in considerable amount of change in air pollution, land and water pollution levels haven’t significantly changed. “In 2010 the CEPI index was 83.88 which came down by two points after three years to 81.90 It was quite a surprise when CPCB reassessed it to 54.42 because we weren’t expecting such a huge fall on paper. It is true that the ground data shows that Chandrapur industrial cluster isn’t a CPA anymore but it is to be seen from where the samples were collected and what measures were considered for the reassessment,” said Chopne.
