Lok Sabha Question No. 1968 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-13
Subject: Central Pollution Control Board
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Gurjeet Singh Aujla

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1968

TO BE ANSWERED ON 13.03.2023

## Central Pollution Control Board

## 1968. SHRI GURJEET SINGH AUJLA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a) the measures taken/propose to be taken by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)  to  curb  rising  pollution  levels  due  to  various  industrial  and  other activities in various States in the country;
- (b) whether State  PCBs are  not  able  to  handle  the  situation  due  to  various  factors arising out  of  various  compulsions,  including  politcal  interventions,  if  so, whether  the  Government  proposes  to  engage  third  parties  for  independent inspections;
- (c) the measures that CPCB proposes to take to use technology as a tool to evaluate the  source  of  these  polluting  activities  so  that  remedial  measures  are  taken  for saving the ecology of the States; and
- (d) whether the National Green Tribunal's orders and directions are not implemented by the State PCBs, if so, the CPCB plans to take action in such cases?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

- (a) to (c): The steps and measures taken by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are as follow:
- i. The  CPCB  and  State  Pollution  Control  Boards  (SPCB)  are  implementing  the provisions of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and  Control  of  Pollution)  Act,  1981  and  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  to prevent and control pollution.
- ii. General standards for discharge of Environmental Pollutants has been notified under schedule-VI of Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986. The Ministry notifies industry specific discharge standards under Schedule-I of Environment Protection Act, 1986. SPCB  and  Pollution  Control  Committees  (PCC)  in  States  and  Union  Territories respectively are adhered to ensure the compliance of these standards. So far, industry specific environmental standards, for about 80 industrial sectors, have been notified.
- iii. Government  has  launched  National  Clean  Air  Programme  (NCAP)  in  2019  as  a national  level  strategy  to  reduce  air  pollution  levels  across  the  country  wherein Central Pollution Control Board is the implementing agency.
- iv. Central Pollution  Control Board  (CPCB)  has  identified  131  cities  (123  nonattainment cities exceeding National Ambient Air Quality Standards). City Specific Clean  Air  Action  Plans  have  been  prepared  and  rolled  out  for  implementation  in these 131 non-attainment/million plus cities to improve the air quality.
- v. The city specific clean air action plans target city specific air polluting sources like Soil  &  Road  Dust,  Vehicles,  Domestic  Fuel,  Municipal  Solid  Waste  Burning, Construction Material and Industries with short-term priority action as well as those to  be  implemented  in  a  medium  to  longer  time  frame  along  with  the  responsible agencies.
- vi. CPCB identifies the polluted river stretches (PRS) considering Biochemical Oxygen Demand  (BOD)  as  criteria  parameter  by  analysis  of  water  quality  data  of  rivers monitored under National Water Quality Monitoring Programme (NWMP).
- vii. Inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) located in seven river Ganga and Yamuna  main  stem  states  i.e.  Uttarakhand,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Haryana,  Delhi,  Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal by Third party technical institutes namely  IITs, NITs, MNNIT,  NEERI  etc.  jointly with concerned State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committee (PCC) on annual basis since 2017.
- viii. CPCB has formulated charter based participatory approach to facilitate the industries for  pollution  control  in  major  industrial  sectors  like  pulp  and  paper,  textile,  sugar, tannery and distillery in river Ganga main stem states emphasising on technological upgradation,  waste  minimization  practices  and  augmentation  of  effluent  treatment plants (ETPs) which resulted in reduction in specific fresh water consumption, waste water discharge & pollution load and improvement in compliance.
- ix. The Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) are installed by 17categories of industries and Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) through the directives issued  by  CPCB for getting real  time information on the effluent quality and noncomplying units were identified and actions were taken against these units.
- x. CPCB  has  formulated  the  methodology  for  categorization  of  industries  based  on pollution potential of the industrial sector and the purpose of the categorization is to ensure that the industry is established in a manner consistent with the environmental objectives and to prompt industrial sectors to adopt cleaner technologies, ultimately resulting in generation of no or minimum pollutants.

(d): In the cases of specific direction to CPCB by National Green Tribunal's, CPCB follow up  with  the  concerned  States  and  file  the  status  on  the  implementation  of  directions  to Hon'ble NGT.

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