Lok Sabha Question No. 207 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-03
Subject: Monitoring of Grossly Polluting Industries
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: Shri Chandan Chauhan, Shri Satpal Brahamchari, Shri Chandra Prakash Choudhary

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

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 207

TO BE ANSWERED ON 03.02.2025

## Monitoring of Grossly Polluting Industries

207.  SHRI CHANDAN CHAUHAN: SHRI SATPAL BRAHAMCHARI: SHRI CHANDRA PRAKASH CHOUDHARY:

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

- (a) whether any detailed action plan has been formulated for the monitoring and regulation of the Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) as declared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB);
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the details of the condition of GPIs particularly in the State of Jharkhand and Sonipat Lok Sabha Constituency in the State of Haryana; and
- (d) whether the Government has taken any special steps to prevent the discharge of waste into  water  bodies  by  the  said  industries  and  regulate  the  handling  of  hazardous substances, if so, the details thereof, State and district-wise particularly in Jharkhand and Haryana?

## ANSWER

MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) & (b):

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change primarily monitors the industrial units across  country  through  Central  Pollution  Control  Board  (CPCB)  and  State  Pollution  Control Boards (SPCBs). Annual inspection of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) operating in Ganga & Yamuna  main  stem  States  namely  Uttarakhand,  Haryana,  NCT-Delhi,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar, Jharkhand  &  West  Bengal  having  potential  to  discharge  into  river  Ganga,  Yamuna  &  their tributaries is carried out by joint teams of third party technical institutes like IITs, NITs and State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) / Pollution Control Committee (PCCs).

In  Ganga  main  stem  States  namely  Uttarakhand,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Jharkhand  and  West Bengal, inspection of 1109 GPIs in 2017, 961 GPIs in 2018, 1072 GPIs in 2019, 1080 GPIs in 2020, 1051 GPIs in 2022 and 1229 GPIs in 2023 was carried out.

In  Yamuna  and  its  tributaries  States  namely  Uttarakhand,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Haryana  and  Delhi inspection of 1660 GPIs in 2020, 1655 GPIs in 2022 and 1957 GPIs in 2023 was carried out.

(c):

During  2023,  05  GPIs  in  the  State  of  Jharkhand  and  132  GPIs  in  Sonipat  Lok  Sabha Constituency (District Sonipat-129, District Jind-03) were inspected.

- i. In  Jharkhand,  out  of  05  GPIs,  02  were  complying  and  03  were  non-complying  w.r.t discharge  norms  or  not  having  valid  consent  to  operate.  All  non-complying  GPIs  were issued  show-cause  notices  by  Jharkhand  State  Pollution  Control  Board  (JSPCB)  which were later withdrawn after their compliance during subsequent inspections by JSPCB. The estimated  discharge  from  these  GPIs  was  about  523  KLD  with  pollution  load  of  5.23 kg/day in terms of BOD.
- ii. In  Sonipat  Lok  Sabha  Constituency  comprising  of  area  of  Sonipat  and  Jind  districts  of Haryana, out of 132 GPIs, 113 GPIs were operational and remaining 19 were self-closed. Out  of  113  operational  GPIs,  97  were  complying  and  16  were  non-complying  w.r.t discharge norms (12) and/or not having valid consent to operate (4). All 16 non-complying GPIs were issued show-cause notices by Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) which  were  later  withdrawn  after  their  compliance  during  subsequent  inspections  by HSPCB.  Self-closed  GPIs  were  issued  closure  directions  by  HSPCB.  The  estimated discharge from 113 operational GPIs was about 7.35 MLD with pollution load of 0.69 TPD in terms of BOD.

(d):

Measures taken by the government for prevention and control of water pollution are given below.

- i. Government of India enacted the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and  the  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  for  protection  of  environment  including water bodies.
- ii. A voluntary program of upgradation of process technology and Effluent Treatment Plant system was implemented in major industrial sectors like Pulp & Paper, Sugar, Distillery, Textile  and  Tannery  resulting  in  reduction  in  fresh  water  consumption,  waste  water discharge & pollution load and improvement in compliance.
- iii. Model Consolidated Consent and Authorization (CCA) incorporating novel and proven cleaner technologies, specific fresh water consumption & effluent discharge norms have been adopted by seven Ganga & Yamuna main stem States.
- iv. Installation  of  Online  Continuous  Effluent  Monitoring  Systems  (OCEMS)  by  17 categories of industries and GPIs in the country as per directives issued by CPCB. This initiative provides real-time information on effluent quality, enabling the identification of non-complying units and the implementation of corrective actions.
- v. CPCB  has  prepared  guidelines  for  conservation  and  Zero  Liquid  Discharge  (ZLD)  in feasible industrial sectors, along with guidelines for the utilization of treated effluent in irrigation.  Treated  wastewater  can  be  reused  in  various  industrial  sectors  to  reduce dependency on freshwater, enhance sustainability, and promote effective water resource management.
- vi. For rejuvenation of Polluted River Stretches (PRS) identified in 2018, action plans were prepared  by  River  Rejuvenation  Committee  (RRC)  constituted  by  the  respective  State Government/  UT  Administration,  under  the  overall  supervision  and  coordination  of Principal Secretary, Environment of the concerned State/ Union Territory for bringing all the  polluted  river  stretches  identified  by  CPCB  fit  for  bathing  purposes  (i.e.  BOD  ˂  3 mg/L and FC ˂ 500 MPN/100 mL).
- vii. Prepared  action  plans  covering  aspects  such  as  Source  control  (Municipal  sewage management,  Industrial  pollution  control,  Waste  management),  River  catchment/Basin Management  (Adoption  of  good  irrigation  practices,  Utilization  of  treated  sewage, Ground  water  recharge  aspects),  Flood  Plain  Zone  protection  and  its  management (Setting  up  of  bio-diversity  parks,  Removal  of  encroachments,  Rain  water  harvesting, Plantation  on  both  sides  of  the  river),  Ecological/Environmental  Flow  (E-Flow)  and Watershed management.

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