Maintaining pace in the way of making Ganga clean and dealing with unabated industrial pollution, the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) has come up with a list of 34 firms acceding emission limit in the State. The list prepared would be presented before the Implementation Committee, formed by the National Greet Tribunal and is one of the two others.
The segregation has come after the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) identified 33 categories of industries and put those under ‘seriously pollution industries’. “We have identified 34 firms based on the criteria that are operating mostly in and around River Ganga and its tributaries like Damodar and Subarnrekha in Jharkhand.
The list has been presented to the State level committee which would go the Implementation Committee and move forward under the supervision of the NGT,” said chairman of JSPCB AK Mishra. The NGT is slated to hear the matter on March 27.
NGT, the apex watchdog of the country meant to keep the polluting firms under hammer, has ordered to form the three tier committees. The State level committee is under the Forest Secretary while Implementation Committee above it comprises Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh, forest secretaries of all concerning States and member secretaries of the PCBs. At the top is the Principal Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Forest headed ‘Principal Committee’ in which Chairpersons of the PCBs and Chief Secretaries of the concerned States are the members.
“Based on the parameters the JSPCB has found 13 thermal power plants in operation in various districts of the State that include big names like TTPS, PTPS and DVC. There are some cement plants and coal washery units. Most of the industries are located at Jamshedpur, Saraikela-Kharsawan, Badajamda and Ramgarh areas,” said a senior official of the Forest Department.
Notable here is that the CPCB after conducting air, water and soil quality studies across the country presented a comprehensive environmental assessment report and named the aforesaid industrial clusters of the State as home to the seriously polluted industries.
Also, coal capital Dhanbad was figured among 43 critically polluted areas of the country identified in the CPCB assessment report that was tabled in the lok Sabha few months ago. Moreover the JSPCB is not just tasked to name the industries but has also to warn those in the wake of saving them from being clamped permanently.