Ganga pollution: Central body shuts four UP industrial units (Financial Express 14 October 2010)

New Delhi: Acting tough on industrial units polluting the Ganga, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has closed down four enterprises while issuing a closure notice to one for discharging effluents directly into the river.
The central pollution watchdog took the action in the last three weeks following its ongoing intensive monitoring of pollution in the 500-km stretch of the Ganga between Kannauj and Varanasi, wherein it inspected a total of 26 industrial units.
“Of these, seven were found to be closed during inspection, two were found to be complying with discharge standards, nine required minor improvements while four issued directions for closure,” a senior environment official said. Three units have been asked to take remedial action while one has been issued a show-cause notice for closure, he said.
“This is for the first time that the CPCB has invoked Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 which empowers it to issue such directions. “So far, the central pollution watchdog has depended exclusively on issuing directives to State Pollution Control Boards under Section 18 of the Water Act, 1974,” he added.
The initiative came following environment minister Jairam Ramesh's observation that the SPCB, most of the times due to political compulsion, were finding difficult to take stringent measure against the erring industrial units. Ramesh had also visited Kanpur in August to take stock of the condition of Ganga which has been declared as a national river.
In continuing with its aim to ensure a clean Ganga, the CPCB will take up the inspection of around 402 tanneries in Kanpur that are connected to common effluent treatment plant in the 500-km stretch of Kannauj to Varanasi. Besides, around 600-700 industrial enterprises are also discharging effluents into the drains and tributaries which flow into the Ganga.
The CPCB is also constituting a dedicated division for monitoring and controlling pollution in the Ganga as part of plans and programmes of the National Ganga River Basin Authority (NGRBA) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. “The central pollution control body has also asked the distillery units to install zero-liquid discharge facilities such as reverse osmosis, multi-effected evaporators and boilers to ensure that there is no liquid discharge into the river from these units,” the official added.