Modi's real-time monitoring of Ganga pollution hits roadblock

The Modi government’s first big bang reform to clean the Ganga by introducing real-time online monitoring of pollutants from April 1 has hit a roadblock after stiff resistance from the industry, potentially jeopardising a plan to expand the plan nationwide.

Updated on: Mar 22, 2015, 24:56:42 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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The Modi government’s first big bang reform to clean the Ganga by introducing real-time online monitoring of pollutants from April 1 has hit a roadblock after stiff resistance from the industry, potentially jeopardising a plan to expand the plan nationwide.

Cleaning-the-Ganga-was-a-key-poll-promise-of-PM-Narendra-Modi-during-the-General-Elections-PTI-Photo

Major industries along the Ganga have complained the government is forcing them to install particular software and not allowing them flexibility to choose from an array of available technologies.

“We are not against online monitoring but the government should be more accommodating of our concerns,” said a representative of an industry body. “We have to import costly equipment and install infrastructure, which takes time.” The industry is required to bear the entire cost of maintaining the system.

The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the national pollution-monitoring agency, had invoked the “polluter pays” principle in January last year, making it mandatory for the industry to pay for and install equipment that could be calibrated by the CPCB or state pollution control boards’ data centres, thereby making the system “tamper-proof”.

Due to the resistance, however, the government has now extended the deadline for industries in the Ganga river basin to install online pollution monitoring systems by another three months with a stern warning — consent to operate will be withdrawn if the industries fail to comply.

CPCB officials believe polluting industries are unwilling to opt for real-time online monitoring system as it could expose them and put an end to “pollution inspector raj” — which often leads to discharge of pollutants into the river.

“I don’t understand the industry’s resistance. When they can import technology, why can’t they import the equipment to ensure they comply with statutory pollution norms,” asked a senior CPCB official. “We have not introduced something new. Real time affluent and emission monitoring is a global norm.”

The Ganga and its tributaries support more than 500 million people but is one of the most polluted regions in the world with industries contributing a lion’s share of the pollution load. Cleaning up the river is one of the government’s priorities but several Ganga Action Plans stipulating treating of waste water haven’t helped in improving aquatic health.

The CPCB official said around 200 of the 754 major polluting industries along the Ganga had already installed the system and the rest will follow suit in the next three months. “We have told the state pollution control boards to withdraw their consent to operate if they fail to install the system,” the official added.

But the stalemate may also affect the government’s plan to widen the plan’s ambit to 17 highly-polluting industries across India. CPCB officials said some states like Tamil Nadu have done well in getting the industry to install online emission monitoring system but other states have been slow.

Once the system kicks off in the Ganga river basin, states will be more than keen to introduce this technology-based pollution-control intervention.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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