Expressing concern over the discharge of effluents into water bodies, the National Green Tribunal has asked the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests to notify the standards for discharge by the pharmaceutical industry.
The NGT directive came while it was hearing a petition on alleged discharge of active pharmaceutical ingredients into rivers by pharma industry in Baddi in Solan district in Himachal Pradesh.
Baddi is one biggest pharma hubs in the country, with more than 270 functioning companies.
The NGT also directed the closing down of pharma companies which failed to meet the central and state pollution control norms.
Earlier, a committee formed by the NGT and state pollution control board said that 97 per cent pharma units did not comply with the draft norms fixed by the Ministry of Environment and Forests for effluent discharge.
The Ministry had on January 1, 2020, issued a draft notification about norms for permisible effluent discharge by amending the Environment Protection (Rules), 1986.
The tribunal directed that the standards proposed in the draft notification should be followed, pending finalisation by the ministry.
The NGT also expressed displeasure towards the Ministry saying that though the draft was issued in 2020, the Ministry has yet to set up a regulatory mechanism on such important issues. Such abeyance cannot persist just because the Ministry was unable to finalise the draft standards even after two years, the Green Bench observed.
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(Published 10 April 2022, 13:15 IST)
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