GUJARAT

ENVIRONMENT

Industrial Development is a pre-requisite for the prosperity of any region. However, the pursuit for progress should not be at the cost of Mother Nature because ultimately as responsible citizens of the state, it behooves on us to leave an environment good enough to be relished, by our future generation. Any developmental activity would bring pressure on environmental resources if not carried out in a planned and organized manner. Having realized this fact, the Government of Gujarat from time to time has taken several pro-active measures to ensure that the industries adhere to the stipulated norms pertaining to environment. Gujarat would boast of having the highest number of common effluent treatment plants for treatment of effluents generated in different estates. The state also scores over other states in the matter of Technically Safe Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) for disposal of solid and hazardous wastes and Common Conveyance Facilities for safe disposal of treated effluents. These initiatives could be attributed to the proactive role of the state Government in the Forests and Env. Dept as well as the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, as far as environmental management and pollution control leading to sustainable development is concerned. However, in the recent years, a need is felt that with environmental issues gaining a relatively significant weightage in all international fora, it is necessary to fine-tune the current policy in line with the global requirements. The Government of Gujarat also appreciates and accepts the fact that industries are mature enough to shoulder some part of the responsibility for maintaining a cleaner environment. Before however considering the proposed policy initiatives, it would be worthwhile to recapitulate some of the initiatives taken in the recent past and the achievements thereof.

Common Consent/Authorisation

GPCB issues statutory clearances in the form of consents and authorization under the provision of the Water Act 1974 and the Air Act 1981 as well as Hazardous Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1989. The industries are required to make separate applications at different points of time to obtain these clearances and they were issued for a period of one year. The GPCB has now taken an initiative and devised a mechanism under which a common form both for consents and authorization will have to be submitted and the consents and authorization will be issued for a period of five years instead of one year as at present.

Expanded list of industries exempted for NOC from GPCB

Normally all the industries before being set up are required to obtain a NOC from the GPCB, unless otherwise they are exempted. There are certain categories of industries having very low or no potential for causing any kind of pollution and therefore, they could be exempted from obtaining the NOC from the Board. The list of industries having been exempt for the NOC from the Board has been expanded from time to time more specifically during last two years and as on date, there are 100 such categories of industries/activities which do not require NOC from GPCB.

Delegation of powers at the Regional level

The powers for granting NOC, consents etc. were earlier vested with the Head Office of the Board. In order to ensure expeditious decision making and promoting decentralization, the Board has now delegated the power for certain categories of industries to the Environmental Engineers in the Head Office as well as at the Regional Offices, especially for SSI units and the units falling in the Green Category. The powers have also been delegated to the Regional Offices for the units coming up in SEZs.

Environmental Zoning and Mapping of all the districts of the State

The Government through Gujarat Pollution Control Board has undertaken environmental zoning and mapping exercise for all the districts, thereby clearly demarcating environmental zones in different categories and defining the pollution control measures required to be undertaken for locating industrial units in different zones. This will help the industries to select the potential location(s) for their projects without any apprehension. Apart from this, processing of applications for NOC/consent will also be faster and the overall cost of compliance to environmental norms will be lower, on account of reduced cost of conveyance and other rehabilitation efforts such as plantation of trees etc. However Gujarat being a border state, approval of Ministry of Defence, Government of India and Surveyor General of India will be required. At present, such exercise in respect of five districts of Junagadh, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Panchmahals and Dahod is complete and GPCB has also received the approval from the Ministry of Defence through CPCB. The zoning exercise is also complete for the districts of Kutch, Amreli, Kheda and Anand and the maps have been sent for approval to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Work for districts of Valsad, Navsari, Surat, Bharuch, Narmada, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Surendranagar and Rajkot is in progress and is expected to be completed by the end of September 2003. The maps will thereafter be sent for approval of CPCB. By December 2004, the Government plans to complete zoning and mapping exercise of all the districts. This information will be widely disseminated through websites and printed literature.

Fast Track Clearance Mechanism for projects in Kutch

Considering the special nature and need to promote faster industrialization in the district of Kutch in view of the liberal incentives offered both by the Central and State Governments for a limited period of time due to the devastating earthquake of 26th Jan 01 causing large scale destruction of properties leading to the depressed economic activities, the GPCB has introduced a Fast Track Clearance Mechanism for the new projects coming up in the district of Kutch under which the decisions on the applications seeking clearances from GPCB are taken within a period of 15 days.

Gold Pass System

Gujarat Pollution Control Board has introduced a system of Gold Pass for the existing units having followed the pollution norms satisfactorily in the past, for expeditious processing of their future applications.

Guidelines for Statutory Clearances

To facilitate project proponents, various guidelines are issued by the Forests & Env. Dept as well as the GPCB, indicating the checklist of documents required along with the application seeking statutory clearances.

Cleaner Production promotion and propagation in the state

The Forests & Environment Dept has taken up various activities for promotion and propagation of ‘cleaner production’ in the state. The State Government organizes training programmes, demo projects and many other activities in different parts of the state for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs, consultants, Government officers, NGOs and academicians. There has been overwhelming response to these activities of the state.

Proposed initiatives

Apart from the conventional initiatives like CETPs for treatment of liquid effluents etc, several other measures have been planned as under:

1. An effort will be mobilized in the direction of controlling the air pollution as well. Government also encourages efforts like plantation of trees and other environment protection initiatives.



2. A system of periodic monitoring of water and air quality at various locations would be made more rigorous and in case, the quality of atmospheric air or water in any area will be found below permissible levels, further investigations will be made and punitive actions against the erring units will be taken. At the same time to ensure that industries are not put to any kind of discomfort by the pollution control authorities, Government plans to introduce a system of self-certification to be endorsed by private accredited agencies.



3. In all the new estates, the Government would plan for integrated collection, treatment and disposal facilities for effluents generated from industries as well as common TSDFs for disposal of solid and hazardous wastes.



4. Once the zoning/mapping exercise is over, the Government would explore the possibilities with Ministry of Environment & Forest, Government of India to do away with the requirements of Environmental Impact Assessment study. More specifically, the Government plans to undertake environmental impact assessment studies for group of industries at the regional level. The modalities for the same will be worked out by Dept. of Forests and Environment, Government of Gujarat and GPCB in conjunction with representative bodies of industries.



5. The Government would develop new industrial estates based on the regional environmental impact assessment/carrying capacity study of the region to avoid any possible conflicts and litigations in future as also to ensure sustainable development. This would also facilitate planned and organized development of various industrial estates.



6. The Government will encourage industries to use cleaner technologies.



7. The Government is committed to ensure adherence to all the environmental norms by the industries. At the same time, in order to avoid any possible penal action, the Government expects the industries to comply with the provisions of law. However, in case of defaulters, the Government would also impose penalties. System of progressive penalties for repeat defaulters as well as graded penalties in relation to the level of environmental abuses will be introduced in line with the guidelines of Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of India.



8. The Government also would like to explore the possibility of introducing a system of compliance of environmental norms collectively for a group of industries at the discharge point. For the purpose, State would represent before the Government of India to recognize common effluent treatment plant as an entity.



9. In order to reduce the cost of compliance to environmental norms, the Government has accepted the concept of sewage dilution in principle. Accordingly, the pollutants/effluents will be released in the urban sewage system passing in the nearby areas. The modalities for the same will be worked out separately in consultation with civic authorities. The cost however will have to be born by the local industries associations.



10. Ministry of Env. & Forest, GoI and Central Pollution Control Board have agreed to permit recycling of waste in respect of hitherto banned items both at the level of industries, industries associations and municipal corporations through accredited recycling agencies. The state would identify and accredit such agencies and provide facilitation for the same. This also would open up the possibilities of setting up recycling parks. In fact, the Government would like to plan all the new estates with well-organized recycling park for ensuring recycling of plastics, containers, glass, steel etc. This would not only ensure conservation of resources but also reduce the burden on environment.



11. As a long term measure, the Government would like to promote reuse/recycle of industrial effluents as water is a scarce resource in the state. The treated effluents thus could be reused/recycled in a substantial manner rather than being discharged into rivers/sea/estuaries. Government will therefore, encourage use of treated effluents for irrigation - non-edible purposes and other commercial applications. Commercial plantation on the basis of the treated effluents could also be promoted to put a check on illegal cutting of forests and trees.



12. Special Task Force will be constituted involving representatives of Industries Dept., Env. Dept. and industries associations to look at the issues of reclamation land, lakes, streams and other water bodies which had been damaged due to environmental degradation. A special initiative will be considered specifically for energy based on bagasse and groundnut shells in South Gujarat and Saurashtra regions.



13. The Government also proposes to introduce a system of all technical inspections through a pool of private accredited consulting agencies.



14. Role of Gujarat Cleaner Production Centre will be expanded with enough autonomy to serve as a direct interface between SSIs and GPCB to create awareness to adopt environmental management system and ISO 14000 Certification.



15. Government also encourages the industrial units to go for ISO 14000 Certification through a scheme of providing financial assistance as mentioned in earlier chapter and expects many more units to take benefit of the scheme, which will eliminate many of the monitoring requirements.



16. The Government will also permit sample testing of effluents through private accredited laboratories.

Compensation through Carbon Credit Exchange Programme

It is proposed that a coordinating nodal agency will be created under Industries Commissionerate to help trading of the carbon credits announced under the Kyoto Protocol for the benefit of Gujarat industries and utilities that are desirous of upgrading their equipment under this programme. This initiative will bring international funding programmes effectively for local entrepreneurs in Gujarat. Details and modalities will be worked out jointly by the Government and industries in conjunction with international agencies in due course.