The Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) has received a major shot in its arms in the way of restoring pristine glory of the State’s lifelines—Damodar and Subarnarekha.
Responding positively to the Expression of Interest (EoI) invited by the Board about six months ago, as many as six firms have come forward to save the gasping rivers and their tributaries.
Informing about this, Chairman of JSPCB AK Mishra told The Pioneer on Monday that now desired progress can be made on this crucial front. “It is indeed a good news that the JSPCB has received six proposals to make Damodar and Subarnarekha rivers and all their smaller tributaries clean. It will also suggest ways to lessen the quantum of untreated effluents left free into the rivers. We would initiate examining the proposals within a week time.”
The EoI had been invited from competent agencies with adequate infrastructure and technical expertise to carry out the tasks and prepare DPR along with technical and financial supporting documents. However, similar attempt done before and reported first by this newspaper could not yield results due to single bidding and the Board had to reissue the EoI.
The development holds significance as Chief Minister Raghubar Das in his address in a meeting called on ‘Clean Ganga Mission’—a project very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s heart—had stressed on the significance of the twin rivers in the perspective of Jharkhand. Stretch of Ganga in Jharkhand is just 32 kilometers but both the Damodar and Subarnarekha cover substantial part of the State and also pitch in as important tributaries of the pious river. Unless these rivers are cleaned upstream, it would not cut much ice just to clean river beds of the Ganga downstream.
The qualified firm would conduct a detailed study, especially related to effluents coming out of industries and mines throughout the entire length of the two rivers. Damodar and Subarnarekha are the worst hit as number of big and small industrial units, iron smelting plans, power plants, coal washeries and mineral hubs are located on their banks leaving these in utterly chaotic state.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest had in 2010, declared the industrial clusters of Dhanbad as critically polluted and those of Ramgarh, Jamshedpur, Seraikela, Badajamda and West Singhbhum as severely ones. Damodar, Subarnarekha and their tributaries stroll through the clusters.
“The qualified firm would identify the focal points along the industrial locations.
The Board has also added another aspect to measure carrying capacity of the rivers so that along with the curative steps long lasting prevention can also be ensured. We wanted to know the exact carrying capacity of the rivers so that before granting permission for a new industry etc we can have data to ascertain whether allowing any further is possible or not. As the JSPCB is also a regulatory authority, it would come handy for us,” added the Chairman.
Damodar river basin is the repository of approximately 46 per cent of the country’s coal reserve and labeled as the most polluted river of India. Also the Subarnarekha with a drainage area of 1.93 million ha is a silent recipient of host of the discharges from various uranium mining and processing units besides, sewerages from major cities like Ranchi and Jamshedpur.
The effort would result in improving BOD (Biochemical oxygen demand), dissolved oxygen and pH value by minimising the release of contaminants like arsenic and other toxicities into the rivers. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is also chipping in besides consultations with counterparts in neighbouring states such as West Bengal and Odisha where the rivers flow downstream.