Rivers highly polluted across 27 states, Javadekar tells house
17 Jul 2014
The government has identified 150 polluted stretches along various rivers in the country, along with as many as 3,266 highly ''polluting industries'' responsible for this, union environment minister Prakash Javadekar told parliament on Wednesday.
"The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 3,266 highly polluting industries including power plants, of which 2,328 industries are complying with prescribed standards, 571 are non-complying and 367 have been closed," Javadekar said in reply to questions in Lok Sabha.
Javadekar said that the National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) now cover 42 rivers in 199 towns spread over 21 states with a sanctioned budget of Rs10716.45 crore.
He said that up to the end of March this year, the government had released Rs5097.50 crore to state governments for implementation of various pollution abatement schemes.
He also claimed that 1,193 schemes out of 1,430 sanctioned schemes have been completed under NRCP and NGRBA.
"The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified 150 polluting stretches along various rivers in the country based on Bio-Chemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) levels, a key indicator of organic pollution," Javadekar said, adding that these stretches are in 27 states.
He said the sewage treatment capacity of 4957.98 million litres per day has been created so far under the two programmes NRCP and NGRBA.
He said that the state governments, apart from their own budgetary allocations, are also accessing financial assistance for creation of sewerage infrastructure including setting up of sewage treatment plants in various towns under central sector schemes like JNNURM and Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns.
Replying to another question, Javadekar said CPCB has received 18 public complaints regarding release of industrial effluents from distilleries in the years 2012 and 2013.
Out of these 18, CPCB has forwarded five complaints to concerned state pollution control boards while 10 complaints were investigated by CPCB. Six out of the ten were issued directions under the Environment Protection Act 1986, he said.
He added that CPCB has also received 17 complaints regarding release of industrial effluent from paper mills during the last two years, out of which 12 complaints have been forwarded to concerned state governments while action has been taken on other two complaints.
