Discharge from Gujarat chemical estates' effluent treatment plants is "much higher" than norm

By Jag Jivan
The latest figures released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) suggest that the levels of industrial effluents discharge through the common effluent treatment plants (CETP) in chemical industrial estates across Gujarat continue to remain “high” and “worrisome”. Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti’s Rohit Prapati and six other environmental activists in a statement, quoting CPCB figures, have alleged, “More worrying as the situation has not changed much after the problem of industrial pollution first came to light in the nineties.”
According to them, “Even after huge investments, CETPs of Vapi, Ankaleshwar and Panoli, the final effluent treatment plant (FETP) of Ankleshwar, and the effluent channel project of Vadodara, are unable to meet the prescribed Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) norms.”
Giving details, the environmental activists said, Vapi CETP’s effluent discharge in its outlet was (as on September 5, 2013):
· COD (chemical oxygen demand) 630 i.e 252% more (GPCB norm is 250 mg/l)
· TDS (total dissolved solids) 10058 i.e 478.95% more (GPCB norm is 2100 mg/l), and
· BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) 56 i.e 186.67% more (GPCB norm is 30 mg/l).
The effluent discharged from Vapi’s CETP inlet was COD 2011,i.e. 201% more (GPCB norm is 1000 mg/l), and BOD 709 i.e. 177.25% more (GPCB norm is 400 mg/l).
As for Ankleshwar’s FETP, the CPCB data show that the effluent discharged from its outlet was COD 539 i.e 215.60% more (GPCB norm is 250 mg/l), BOD 128, i.e. 128% more (GPCB norm is 100 mg/li), and ammonical nitrogen NH3-N 191.7, i.e 383.40% more (GPCB norm is 50 mg/l).The the effluent discharged from inlet of FETP was COD 1393, i.e. 139.30% more (GPCB norm is 1000 mg/l), and BOD 336, i.e. 168% more (GPCB norm is 200 mg/l).
Ankleshwar’s CETP indicated that the effluent discharged from outlet of CETP was COD 671, i.e. 671% more (GPCB norm is 100 mg/l), and TDS 16091, i.e 766.24% more (GPCB norm is 2100 mg/l),
Panoli CETP’s effluent discharged from the Outlet showed COD 778, i.e. 778% more (GPCB norm is 100 mg/l), BOD 79 i.e. 263.33 % more (GPCB norm is 30 mg/l), and ammonical nitrogen NH3-N 64.6 i.e 129.20% more (GPCB norm is 50 mg/l).
The effluent channel project of Vadodara was discharging into estuary of river Mahi COD 879 (GPCB norm is 250 mg/l) i.e. 351.60% more, and TDS 7902 (GPCB norm is 5000 mg/l) i.e. 158% more.
The statement quotes the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, to say that the government may issue “directions in writing to any person, officer or any authority and such person, officer or authority” for the “closure, prohibition or regulation of any industry, operation or process” or “stoppage or regulation of the supply of electricity or water or any other service.” It wonders, “While the law is clear, a question arises, why is the Gujarat government not using this power?”
Insisting that there should be immediate “halt industrial effluent discharge at Tadgam Sarigam Pipeline from CETP Vapi, from FETP, Ankleshwar,and ECP, Vadodara, etc.” the statement says, “None of the effluents still meet GPCB and CPCB norms”.
Suggesting that authorities have refused to fight pollution, the environmental experts say, “Despite the polluter pays principle, even in the nineties the then developing CETPs were highly supported by public money; 25% of the cost was state subsidy, 25% central subsidy, 30% loans from financial institute, and 20% directly paid by the industry. Now MoEF has declared that 50% cost will be borne by the Central government, 25% by State government and only 25% cost by the polluting industries. In essence, two-thirds of the proposed solution to the pollution generated for private profit is funded by public money.”
“Ironically”, they say, “This is happening when the state is withdrawing from its social responsibilities, such as education, health care and public transport. It seems paradoxical that the mounting laissez faire sentiment allowed the state to intervene on behalf of industries – which come to exist by virtue of concentrated resources and power – but not for the welfare of the common masses.”
They further say, “The basic questions that remain unanswered by state pollution control boards even now are:
· When the law does not allow discharge of industrial effluent which is not able to meet the prescribed GPCB norms in any water body, how do authorities allow polluting industries to do so endangering natural resources and public health since years?
· Why does the state government and the pollution control board refuse to answer questions about their failure in checking the discharge of industrial effluent and under what legal provisions do they allow the discharge of industrial effluent which is not able to meet the GPCB prescribed norms?
· How could the GPCB act on behalf of industries demanding the lifting of moratorium of Vapi, Ankleshwar and Vatva, and organize press conference for it, but not releasing the data of CETP?

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

May the Earth Be Auspicious: Vedic ecology and contemporary crisis in Ashok Vajpeyi’s poetry

By Ravi Ranjan* Ashok Vajpeyi, born in 1941, occupies a singular position in contemporary Hindi poetry as a poet whose work quietly but decisively reorients modern literary consciousness toward ethical, ecological, and civilizational questions. Across more than six decades of writing, Vajpeyi has forged a poetic idiom marked by restraint, philosophical attentiveness, and moral seriousness, resisting both rhetorical excess and ideological simplification.

Would breaking idols, burning books annihilate caste? Recalling a 1972 Dalit protest

By Rajiv Shah A few days ago, I received an email alert from a veteran human rights leader who has fought many battles in Gujarat for the Dalit cause — both through ground-level campaigns and courtroom struggles. The alert, sent in Gujarati by Valjibhai Patel, who heads the Council for Social Justice, stated: “In 1935, Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti . In 1972, we broke the idol of Krishna , whom we regarded as the creator of the varna (caste) system.”

Search This Blog