E-Paper
Remediation activities started at 7 of 103 contaminated sites in country: Govt
The new rules empower a pollution control boards to notify a site as contaminated if the contaminant is found to be above the prescribed threshold levels
NEW DELHI: Remediation activities have been initiated at seven of the 103 contaminated sites identified by the Central Pollution Control Board across the country, the union environment ministry told the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Minister of state for environment Kirti Vardhan Singh said the government had notified the rules for identification and management of contaminated sites on July 24 and that the Environment Protection (Management of Contaminated Sites) Rules, 2025 listed the process for identification and remediation of contaminated sites.
The seven sites where remediation has started are: mercury contaminated sites at Odisha’s Ganjam district; chromium contaminated sites at Rania, in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur Rural; mercury contaminated soil at the premises of M/s Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu; BPCL oil contaminated site at Tondairpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu; groundwater contamination in and around the premises of M/s Godavari BioRefineries, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra; groundwater contamination at Effluent Channel Project (ECP), Vadodara, Gujarat; and groundwater contamination at Lohia Nagar and Industrial area, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh due to untreated industrial effluents by several industries, Singh said in a written response to an unstarred question by Congress MP VK Sreekandan on the new rules.
The rules empower a state’s pollution control board to notify a site as contaminated if the contaminant is found to be above the prescribed threshold levels after completion of the detailed site assessment.
The local body or district administration, on its own or on receipt of a complaint from the public, has been mandated to identify an area affected with contaminants taking into account the information as prescribed in the Rules and list all such areas as suspected contaminated sites in its jurisdiction on a centralised online portal.
“On receipt of the list of suspected contaminated sites, state pollution control board (SPCB/ PCC), on its own or through a reference organisation, has been mandated to undertake the preliminary site assessment of the suspected contaminated site by sampling and analysis of the suspected contaminated site, within ninety days from the date of receipt of the list. SPCB/ PCC may list the suspected contaminated site as probable contaminated site of the contaminant is found to be above the prescribed screening levels,” the minister added.
