The Centre has issued closure orders to 150 grossly polluting industrial units for not installing Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) along River Ganga. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi yesterday, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said, of the 764 polluting industries, 514 have already installed the monitoring system while 94 are in the process.
He said, the industrial pollution has significantly come down in the river due to the installation of the monitoring system. Mr Javadekar said, 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 Ministry of Environment and Forests 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.