Lok Sabha Question No. 2887 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-21
Subject: Pollution caused by Industries
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Khan Saumitra

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2887

TO BE ANSWERED ON 21.03.2022

## Pollution caused by Industries

## 2887. SHRI SAUMITRA KHAN:

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

- (a) whether  the  Government  is  taking  any  steps  to  control  the  air  pollution  coming  from industries and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government is planning to manufacture any machine or tower to control the air pollution in the cities and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  received  complaints  regarding  environmental  pollution caused  by  pharmaceutical  industries  in  West  Bengal  during  the  last  three  years  and current year till date and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the action taken thereon along with the penalties imposed/collected and number of such industries closed till date; and
- (e) if not, the reasons therefor and the role of State Pollution Control Board in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a) & (b)  The Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government  of  India  notifies  industry  specific  emission  or  discharge  standards  under Schedule-I: 'Standards for Emission or Discharge of Environmental Pollutants from various Industries'  of  Environment  Protection  Act,  1986.  State  Pollution  Control  Boards  (SPCBs) and Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) in States and Union Territories respectively ensure the compliance of these standards. So far, industry specific environmental standards for 80 industrial sectors have been notified.

The SPCBs/PCCs issue consent to establish/ consent to operate and authorization to the industries in their respective States/UTs as per the provisions of the Water (Prevention and  Control  of  Pollution)  Act,  1974,  Air  (Prevention  and  Control  of  Pollution),  1981  and Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  and  rules  made  their  in.  SPCBs/PCCs  monitors  the compliance of consent conditions and other operational activities.

For  strengthening  of  monitoring  mechanism  and  effective  compliance through  selfregulatory mechanism, directions have been issued to all 17 categories of Highly Polluting Industries, Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) of Ganga basin, Common Effluent Treatment Plants  (CETPs),  biomedical  waste  management  facilities  and  common  hazardous  waste management facilities to install Continuous Effluent/ Emission Monitoring Systems and also to  have  constant  vigil  on  pollutant  release.  Further,  Industries  are  categories  based  on  its pollution  potential,  254  industrial  sectors  are  categorised  into  red  (61),  orange  (90),  green (65) and white (38) categories.

There is no plan to manufacture any machine or tower to control the air pollution in the cities. Central Government has already launched National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), which is being implemented in 132 non-attainment cities of the country.

(c) to (e) No complaint(s) has been received in Central Pollution Control Board  and West Bengal  Pollution  Control  Board  (WBPCB)    against  pharmaceuticals  industries  in  West Bengal during the last three years.

For prevention and control of pollution CPCB, SPCBs/ PCCs issue various directions under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, etc. The CPCB has identified 17 categories of highly polluting industries, and is carrying out inspection of these industries based on computer generated alerts from Online Continuous Effluent/ Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS) since 2016-17. Industries are selected for inspection on the basis of Short Message Service (SMS) alerts generated from the online monitoring systems and necessary action is taken against the defaulting industries.

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