Skip to main content

Ban on industrial activity reimposed on Vapi, continues for Ankaleshwar and Vatva, Ahmedabad is spared

By Rajiv Shah |
In a major setback to Gujarat’s efforts to overcome pollution in its environmentally critical regions, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, has decided to re-impose ban on industrial activity on the industrial cluster of Vapi in South Gujarat, even as continuing with the ban imposed by it in 2010 on the industrial clusters of Ankaleshwar, also in South Gujarat, and Vatva, which is off Ahmedabad. The MoEF order, while re-imposing the ban on industrial activity on Vapi, has said that its Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI), as assessed this year, has failed to show any tendency towards implementing an action plan to end pollution.
At the same time, the MoEF declared it has lifted moratorium on industrial activity on Ahmedabad saying, “The evaluation of the CEPI score in 17 areas where moratorium is still in place indicates that the CEPI score in 10 areas namely Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Manali (Tamilnadu), Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Korba (Chhattisgarh), Asansole (West Bengal), Haldia (West Bengal), Howrah (West Bengal), Vishakapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Kanpur (UP) is below 80 and has shown a decreasing trend as compared to the CEPI score assessed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2011.”
Vapi, significantly, is not alone where the ban has been reimposed. The MoEF order identifies seven other industrial clusters of India which have failed to implement an action plan to implement pollution control measures after the ban was conditionally lifted two years ago. The revised CEPI scores, assessed in 2013, suggest that there are eight critically polluted areas, where pollution levels have begun to rise again, with Vapi topping with the highest CEPI of 85.31, followed by Ghaziabad (UP), 84.13, Singrauli (UP and MP) 83,24, Panipat (Haryana) 81.27, Jharsuguda (Odisha) 78.75, Patancheru-Bollaram (Andhra Pradesh) 76.05, and Ludhiana (Punjab) 75.72.
The MoEF order states, “The CEPI score indicates that even after a period of two-and-a-half years of implementation of action plans, there is no improvement in the environmental quality as is evident from the observed values of CEPI in 2013” in anyof these clusters. Here, “the CEPI score has shown an increasing trend as compared to 2011. In view of this situation, the moratorium is hereby re-imposed with immediate effect in respect of these eight areas till further orders”, it declares.
The order adds that the ban on industrial activity in Vatva (near Ahmedabad) and Ankaleshwar (in South Gujarat) would continue. These two Gujarat industrial clusters are part a list which contains five others – Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Pali (Rajasthan), Vellore (Tamil Nadu), Najafgarh Drain Basin (UT Delhi) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan) – “where the CEPI score is either above 80 or is above 70 and showing either increasing trend or no change as compared to values observed in 2011”, the order states.
The order further says, the moratorium was first imposed on January 13, 2010 up to August 31, 2010 “on consideration of projects for environmental clearance to be located in 43 critically polluted areas/ industrial clusters identified by Central Pollution Control Board. It was envisaged that during the period of moratorium, time bound action plans will be prepared by the respective state pollution control boards for improving the environmental quality in these industrial clusters / areas. The action plans so prepared would be finalized by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The period of moratorium was extended beyond August 31, 2010 from time to time.”
The order disallows any independent state government environment assessment and clearance of projects in the critically polluted areas. It says that even for projects of public interest, a prior approval would have to be needed from the MoEF. Such projects, which are normally under category B, require clearance from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and they need not go the the MoEF for clearance. However, as for the critically polluted areas, all projects “are to be considered as category A projects” requiring MoEF clearance, hence “the reference to SEIAA and category B projects in this para is hereby deleted”.
However, the order states, “It has been decided to consider allowing the projects / activities of modernization of existing project or activity not resulting in increase in pollution load and physical infrastructure like highways, aerial ropeways, Common Effluent Treatment Plants and Common Solid Waste Management Facility in such areas.”
Even as deciding to lift the moratorium on 10 industrial areas, including Ahmedabad, the MoEF has put forward a few conditions:
· The concerned state pollution control board (SPCB) should ensure that any new project /activity or any expansion or modernization of existing project or activity or any change in product mix is in line with the overall approved action plan of the concerned CPA.
· The chairman, SPCB, should submit a quarterly report on the implementation of the action plan of each CPA to the CPCB be reviewed by it.
· Monitoring in CPAs should be carried out by the SPCB through a third party on an annual basis for computing CEPI. The monitoring should be done during December-February and the report sent to CPCB by April. CPCB, in turn, would submit its report to MoEF.
· Monitoring in CPAs should be got done by CPCB through a third party on biennial basis for computing CEPI and report submitted to MoEF for taking an appropriate view.
“If at any time it comes to the notice of CPCB that action plan in any CPA is not being implemented properly or the CEPI index in CPA is showing an increasing trend, it will immediately bring the factual pOSition to the notice of MoEF and MoEF would consider taking an appropriate view in the matter which may include re-imposition of moratorium”, the order warns.

Industry protests the MoEF order

In a sharp reaction, the Ankaleshwar Industries Association president Vipul V Gajera called an urgent meeting of industrialists of Central Gujarat "in connection with extension of moratorium on critically-polluted Industrial cluster category for Ankleshwar-Panoli-Jhagadia Industrial cluster based on result of recent sampling by MoEF team." The meeting was held to protest against the "extension of moratorium on critically polluted industrial cluster based on the result declared recently of sampling done by the team of CPCB/MoEF". It was jointed arranged with Laghu Udyog Bharti, Bharuch, Panoli and Jhagadia Industries Associations, and among the participants included BJP MPs Mansukh Vasava and Bharatsinh Parmar, and BJP MLAs Chhatrasinh Mori, Dushiantbhai Patel and Arunsinh Rana.

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

By Rajiv Shah |
In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."
Post a Comment
Read more

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

By Rajiv Shah |
RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.
Post a Comment
Read more

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

By Rajiv Shah |
For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.
Post a Comment
Read more

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

By Rajiv Shah |
While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .
Post a Comment
Read more

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

By Rajiv Shah |
A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."
Post a Comment
Read more

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

By Rajiv Shah |
While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.  
Post a Comment
Read more

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

By Rajiv Shah |
The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.
1 comment
Read more

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

By Rajiv Shah |
A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members.  As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Civil Aviation Minister Venkaiah Naidu. The most striking comment came from BJP MP Subramanian Swamy, who stated : "When a train derailed in the 1950s, Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned. On the same morality, I demand PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, and Civil Aviation Minister Naidu resign so that a free and fair inquiry can be held. All that Modi and his associates have been doing so far is gallivanting, which must stop." Amidst widespread mourning, some fringe elements sought to communalize the tragedy. One post ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

By Rajiv Shah |
It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.
1 comment
Read more