Doing away with environment clearance is expected to speed up construction of common effluent treatment plants.
Credit: DH FILE PHOTO
Bengaluru: Setting up an industrial effluent treatment plant will not require prior environment clearance (EC) from authorities anymore with a central expert committee limiting the oversight to the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board and issuing guidelines for the project.
Responding to a query by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), the expert appraisal committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said it had earlier indicated the possibility of providing exemption from the prior environment clearance (EC) for common effluent treatment plant (CETP).
During the meeting held earlier this month, minutes of which were made available recently, the committee looked into the matter of specific environment safeguards required to be followed during the construction and operation phases.
The state pollution control boards have been given the task of enforcing the safeguards.
Revised guidelines
The committee revised the safeguards listed in a draft notification issued in October. As per the new set of rules, a CETP can be set up in sites which meet the criteria provided effluent has to be transported exclusively through a dedicated pipeline network and not in tankers under any circumstances and the treated water has to be sent back for industrial use and not for agriculture, horticulture, landscaping or other uses.
Industries have to pre-treat the effluent, the CETP should have continuous online monitoring systems which will be supervised by the state and the central pollution control boards. The sludge generated in the plant has to be handled, stored, transported and disposed of as per the provisions of the hazardous waste rules.
Doing away with environment clearance is expected to speed up construction of CETPs. However, a source noted that the delay in the construction of CETP in places like Peenya and Jigani were not due to the prior environment clearance. “It’s the lack of enforcement that has led to delay in construction of CETP. The exemption from EC will only help if the state shows willingness to prevent effluents joining the surface and groundwater,” a source said.
The delay, especially in the Jigani industrial area, had attracted the ire of the National Green Tribunal which had also imposed hefty penalty on the state government as environment compensation.