Raj pollution board order to hit industrial units in Pali district

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The Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) has directed a treatment plant along the Bandi river in Pali district to stop accepting effluents from industrial units, a move that is likely to hit operations of 215 factories.

The board's direction came after it found that facilities at the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP)-4, one of the six CETPs along the river, were inadequate to handle sludge from these units in the Punayata Industrial Area.

Of the six plants, one is not operational and one is under construction. CETP-4 has been shut and CETP-2, 3 and 6 are operational, officials said.

The directions were issued, following RSPCB chairperson Aparna Arora and member secretary K C A Arun Prasad's visit to the treatment plants, industrial areas and the stretch of the Bandi river in the district on July 23.

Noting various deficiencies and non-compliance of norms, the pollution board, in its July 24 report directed the Water Pollution Control Treatment and Research Foundation to transfer existing effluents at CETP-4 to CETP-6 and stop taking fresh effluents from industrial units connected to it.

The foundation is a body run by industrial units to manage and monitor treatment of effluents.

The directions were issued under Section 33A of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.

The board in its report mentioned that sludge was found to be stored in a haphazard manner at CETP-4 and large quantities of it lying in the open.

The boundary wall near the sludge yard, along the river bank, was also found to be damaged, it said.

No pucca road has been provided for movement of vehicles that carry sludge at CETP-4 and flow of coloured effluent with a pungent smell was noticed at river stretches, the report said.

The member secretary said failure to comply with the directions is a criminal offence and punishable under sections of the Act with imprisonment of one-and-a-half year that may be extend to six years with a fine," Prasad said.

The decision was taken after detailed inspection and will affect nearly 215 units, Prasad said.

The report also said nearly 6,000 tonnes of slufge at CETP-3 is out in the open.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT), while hearing a petition on the pollution in the Bandi river on June 18, had asked the Jodhpur divisional commissioner to submit a report on whether the deficiencies pointed out by the committee it had formed were rectified or not.

The petition was filed by Mahaveer Singh Sukarlai of the Kisan Paryavaran Sangarsh Samiti