Content Courtesy: Radical Socialist
Author: Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti

In this press release dated 4th June 2010, the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti expresses concern that the effluent treatment facilities across the Golden Corridor do not conform to the Gujarat State Pollution Control Board  (GPCB) and demands that effluent discharge at Tadgam Sarigam Pipeline, from FETP, Ankleshwar, ECP, Vadodara and CETPs of Ahmedabad be stopped.

Despite the “Polluter Pays” principle, even in the nineties the then developing common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) were highly supported by public money; 25% of the cost was state subsidy, 25% central subsidy, 30% loans from financial institutions, and only 20% was directly paid by the industry. In essence half of the proposed solution to the pollution generated for private profit was funded by the general public.

Moreover, this happened at the same time that the state was withdrawing from its social responsibilities, such as education, health care and transportation. It seems paradoxical that the mounting laissez faire sentiment allowed the state to intervene on behalf of industries – which come to exist by virtue of concentrated resources and power – but not for the welfare of the common masses. Even after huge investments many of the CETPs including Vapi, FETP - Ankleshwar, Panoli, Nandesari, Vatva, Odhav and Narol are unable to meet the prescribed GPCB norms. 

Adding insult to tax-payers' injury, pollution mitigation infrastructure is as neglected as the pollutants themselves, causing a mutually reinforcing stalemate in the problem of pollution control. Yet, instead of becoming stricter with environmental clearances given to new and expanding potentially polluting industries, the Centre is taking steps to make the process more lenient so that India can march forward to “develop” without obstruction.

Instead of focusing on the infrastructure that we do have and making it functional, the state seems obsessed with building new projects that tend to fail just like their predecessors.

Original source report is available here.

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