 "Water pollution")
The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024, recently revised, is set to be enforced initially in Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Union Territories.
This is according to a Ministry of Law and Justice notification published on Friday.
Other states have the option to adopt it through resolutions.
The Rajya Sabha on February 6 passed the legislation, which replaces the provisions involving imprisonment ranging from three months to seven years with fines ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15 lakh a day.
Though the provision allows for leniency in minor infractions that don’t result in human injury or environmental harm, experts warn it may result in a significant increase in cases of water pollution.
Experts have raised concern over central government overreach and the weakening of state autonomy, as well as the potential for leniency towards large units.
“The government’s decision indicates willingness to allow units to dispose of their toxic wastewater without concern for legal repercussions. If those can profit significantly from exploiting this law, they may not hesitate to pay fines of Rs 15 lakh. However, the real question is: Is the fine sufficient?” said an environmental expert.
“Then the government will allocate hundreds of crores from taxpayers’ money to clean up those rivers,” he added.
From 2014 to 2022, around Rs 13,000 crore has been spent to clean the Ganga, according to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) data.
Stalin D, director of the Vanashakti NGO, said the Amendment was “anti-environment” and had decriminalised almost all penal provisions in the earlier 1974 law.
“This Amendment must be revoked by the government. Or else it will result in units inundating rivers with toxic wastewater.”
The government, however, says the goal is to balance the need for environmental protection with ease of doing business and reduce harassment of citizens and businesses.
Union MoEFCC Minister Bhupender Yadav said during the Parliament session by decriminalising certain actions and implementing fines, industries will be incentivised to adhere to regulations on a daily basis.
“The modified law will provide an impetus to industries and make progress towards environmental protection at the same time,” Yadav said while tabling the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
The central government introduced the amendment in line with resolutions passed by Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The Bill relaxes several norms for factories and gives the Centre the powers to exempt some industries from statutory restrictions such as taking consent from state pollution control boards, earlier mandatory. It also allows the Centre to frame uniform guidelines for appointing officials to state boards and prescribe service conditions for chairpersons of state pollution control boards.
The Bill decriminalises all penal provisions except Sections 25 and 26. Section 25 applies to the mandatory consent to operate and it has to be taken from state pollution control boards. Section 26 is on discharging sewage or trade effluents.
Several members of the Opposition also raised concern over this.
“The government has been systematically decriminalising offences against the environment and softening penalties to please the industrial-mining lobby that supports it,” said Trinamool Member of Parliament Jawhar Sircar.
“It has no idea of the long-term damage its user-friendly policies and exemption from controls inflicts on the environment,” Sircar said.
Debadityo Sinha, lead, climate and ecosystems, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, said: “The penalties must be deterrents enough to help enforcement of law. The government should retain the provision for imprisonment in cases of deliberate offences.”
