Gujarat to come up with Rs 5,500 cr Deep Sea Discharge scheme

Just prior to the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit (VGGIS)-2019, the Gujarat government will come up with an integrated scheme policy for Deep Sea Discharge costing around Rs 5,500 crore.

The announcement for the policy to bring in more industrial investment to Gujarat was made by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Wednesday.

Even though the industrialised state of Gujarat is among the top in the country as far as investment is concerned, some environmental restrictions and harsher environmental rules pose a stumbling block for industrial growth.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Gujarat government led by Vijay Rupani wants to change that.

Just before the VGGIS-2019, the Gujarat government will come out with an integrated policy for Deep Sea Discharge for treated industrial effluents.

Right now, there is a limitation on the treated discharge that is being released into the rivers and other water bodies.

According to the policy, heavy pipelines will be erected, going down right to the bottom of the oceans to release the treated industrial effluents. The whole project will cost around Rs 5,500 crore.

Rupani announced the coming up of the policy on Wednesday when he was being felicitated by various industrial bodies of Gujarat, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC).

With the announcement, the Chief Minister also showered a horde of relaxation for the industrial units in the state, expecting a huge growth in investment and employment in Gujarat.

"We are exempting the requirement of CTE certificate acquiring the Environmental Clearance (EC) certificate from the GPCB and industrial units will avail this benefit within 105 days. Around one thousand units will be benefitted by this giving rise to employment for 10 thousand youth," said Rupani at the event.

He said there are around 1,000 units manufacturing dyes and chemicals. Earlier to change the dye variant, the permission time was 6 months.

"Now, this will be given within 15 days. More than 2-5,000 units will benefit through this paving way for 50,000 employments," added Rupani.

"We have decided to utilise the Rs 15 crore received in the form of GPCB rules violation penalties, to develop common environment infrastructure and technology. We have even reduced the time period of renewal application for CTE and CCA from 45 to 30 days," Rupani said.

Around 5,000 units are issued renewals annually. Furthermore, the consent from GPCB given to industrial units was extended from 5, 7 and 10 years to 10 and 15 respectively.

Around Rs 82,000 crore of industrial investment and 5,483 environmental infrastructure investment is expected in Gujarat following this announcement, giving scope for 12 lakh employment, according to the government.

--IANS

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