The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has issued closure orders to 150 grossly polluting industrial units for not installing Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) along River Ganga. Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar announced that of the 764 polluting industries, 514 have already installed the monitoring system while 94 are in the process.
The Union Minister announced that, the industrial pollution has significantly come down in the river due to the installation of the monitoring system. The problem of black liquor discharge and spent wash into the river has also been largely controlled. The Central Pollution Control Board , CPCB had formulated an Action Plan for abatement of industrial pollution in Ganga covering five key industrial sectors sugar, paper and pulp, distillery, textile and tannery.
The objectives of Action Plan is to reducing effluent generation and organic load. The online Monitoring System enables the board to keep tabs on polluting units on a real-time basis without actually visiting the industries.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and climate change has identified 764 grossly polluting industries discharging 501 million litres of waste per day into the Ganga and its major tributaries. Of these 764 industries, 687 are located in Uttar Pradesh followed by 42 in Uttarakhand and around 594 industries are located in the main stem of the Ganga. According to the government data, the discharge from industries has been brought down by 125 million litre per day.
Black Liquor- Black Liquor is a kind of industrial waste generated in chemical industry generally involved in manufacturing of paper.
Pollution in Ganges
Ganga is the largest river of India and provides water to about 40% of the population of India. However, rampant pollution due to human activities like dumping of domestic and industrial waste has damaged the river to a great extent. The polluted water has also contributed to spread of certain water borne diseases like cholera, diarrhoea, Hepatitis and dysentery. In 2014, the Union Government announced an integrated Ganga development project called the ‘Namami Ganga’ project in the Union Budget for 2014-15. As per the announcement 2, 037 Crore were set aside for the purpose. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) time and again demanded that specific actions be taken by the Government of India and the state Governments, especially Uttar Pradesh for mitigating pollution levels in Ganga.
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