Skip to main content

GPCB norms ignored: Whatever dumped by polluters remains unmonitored


Senior environmental activists Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Vadodara, Gujarat, in a letter to the secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), have insisted that concerned authorities should not renew the Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CC&A) dated January 6, 2015 to the Vadodara Enviro Channel Limited’s (VECL), and implement the closure order dated December 13, 2018 of the Gujarat Pollution control Board (GPCB) under section 33 A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974. Text:
***
The Vadodara Enviro Channel Limited’s (VECL) has continued non-compliance of GPCB’s prescribed norms, terms and conditions of its Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CC&A) dated January 6, 2015 since its inception. It clearly demands that their Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CC&A) needs to be cancelled. A copy of the same is attached herewith.
CC&A of VECL clearly mentions:
“…VECL have only one outlet for the discharge of its effluent and no effluent shall be discharged without requisite treatment & without meeting with the GPCB norms.”
If we are not wrong, Satish Panchal, managing director of VECL, openly states that it is not the responsibility of VECL to maintain the prescribed norms at J Point. This means that VECL throughputs whatever that is dumped by polluters, unmonitored.
This means that all the terms and conditions embodied in the environmental clearance granted to VECL by GPCB are conveniently ignored as, perhaps, it is good for their business. There are many more such terms and condition mentioned in CC&A but the concerned authorities have failed to look into the compliance of these. There is no dispute among concerned authorities, industries, and VECL that at J Point of the Effluent Channel of VECL the effluent is consistently not able to meet the prescribed GPCB norms.
Monsoon rains on July 31, 2019 onwards removed the soil above the pipeline of the Effluent Channel Project (ECP) and exposed the reasons for the pipeline leakages underground. Even monsoon rains on August 2 and 3, 2019 were also able to reveal and expose that leakage of pipeline over ground, in last stretch of ECP. VECL’s carelessness has led to filling up of two ponds of Nodhana Village with industrial effluent. Industrial effluent also entered into agriculture land of Uber, Valipur, Nodhana, Samoj, and Sarod villages.
Number of meetings were organised in the presence of the member secretary of the GPCB, the representatives of the industries of the ECP area, and representatives of affected villages and voluntary organisations working in this area on environmental concerns. In these meetings, there was no dispute about contamination of groundwater and spreading of contamination in the area. There is acknowledgement and agreement that the ECP channel and a number of industries along the ECP channel are responsible for this dangerous level of contamination of the surface water and land as well as the groundwater.
Neither GPCB nor industrialists have denied that the groundwater is severely contaminated, that the contamination is spreading in different areas, and it has reached irreversible / irreparable levels because of incessant industrial activities.
We are extremely disturbed that the chief secretary, Gujarat State, and the chairman and member secretary of GPCB are openly allowing VECL to consistently and admittedly violate the environment laws of the land. They are also turning a blind eye to the known and admitted violation of the Order, dated February 22, 2017, of the Supreme Court in Writ Petition (Civil) No 375 of 2012 (Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anrs v/s Union of India & Ors) and the National Green Tribunal, principal bench, Delhi, Order, dated August 3, 2018, and February 19, 2019, in Original Application No 593 of 2017 (Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti & Anrs v/s Union of India & Ors). This is amounts to contempt of the Supreme Court Order.
There are number of farmers who had been practicing organic farming but because of the groundwater pollution, they are no longer organic. Affected farmers with small landholding and villagers often have no choice but to use this contaminated water for farming and their livelihood including in their own households and for their cows and buffaloes.
The farmers who are affected by groundwater contamination and pollution have not been compensated in terms of money or in kind, in spite of the fact that nobody disputes the fact that the problem of contamination of groundwater and air pollution is because of the polluting industries located around the villages and areas vis-à-vis ECP.
Polluters need to pay. Industries need to be categorized as polluters. There are too many loopholes for polluters to get away from responsibility to pay. Polluters need to pay if it is externalized from their respective compounds. There has to be a system to assess and pay the affected in time. It is the duty of the authorities to ensure that polluters pay the affected.
As far as industrial clusters around ECP are concerned, they are located in the vegetable basket of Gujarat, on fertile land, which is prima facie contradictory and illegal. Majority of the industries located in this cluster do not even have the required buffer zone as per the stipulated condition in the environment clearance.
The main purpose of the buffer zone is to avert the effect of negative impact of pollution on the surrounding rural residential and agricultural areas. No action has been taken against these defaulting industries even after repeated letters about the violations.
Keeping in mind the above alarming facts and undisputed realities even accepted by CPCB, GPCB, Vadodara Enviro Channel Limited, and the industries located in this area, we can surely declare this grave situation as a major “chemical emergency”.
In order to reduce further harm to the people and the environment, we demand that:
  • Concerned Authorities should not renew but Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CC&A) dated January 6, 2015 of VECL.
  • Immediately implement the Closure Order dated December 13, 2018 of GPCB under section 33 A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
  • File a criminal case against VECL and defaulting polluting industries of ECP Industrial Cluster. The case may please be heard in a Special Court on day-to-day basis.
If authorities fail to do so, it will convey a wrong indication to all the polluting industries that the concerned authorities are not serious about implementing the Supreme Court order dated 22.02.2017 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 375 of 2012.
We expect your prompt and positive response in the interest of life, livelihoods, and environment in the affected areas. Ours is an expression of the affected.
—
*Copies sent to top officials attached with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), the Gujarat chief secretary, managing director, Vadodara Enviro Channel Limited (VECL), and the district collector, Vadodara, among others

Comments

Post a Comment

TRENDING

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative   The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...
2 comments
»

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative   A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey  visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification. 
Post a Comment
»

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative  With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).
Post a Comment
»

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.
Post a Comment
»

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra*  The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.
Post a Comment
»

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”
Post a Comment
»

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative   The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.
Post a Comment
»

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ   It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.
Post a Comment
»

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative   A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat,  has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.
Post a Comment
»