Maharashtra's polluting factories make its rivers filthiest in India

Representational imageThere was a time when Hanif S Parkar a fisherman from Dhabol Khadi village in the coastal district of Ratnagiri in Maharashtra could net 25 different kinds of fish from Vashisthi the local riverFor the past 25 years factories in the neighbouring industrial belt of Lote Parshuram have been dumping untreated effluents in the river destroying all living forms in it The fish are dying and the river no longer offers a livelihood for Parkar and others like him in the villageFor the last 15 years Parkar has been campaigning against river pollution in the area engaging with the officials of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board MPCB as well as the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation MIDC which maintains the beltMaharashtra the state with Indias biggest economy also has the highest number of polluted river stretches in the country And at 161 it also has the most number of cities and towns along polluted stretches according to a 2015 report of the Central Pollution Control Board CPCBOf the 156 locations where the CPCB has set up its monitoring units on the 49 rivers and tributaries in the state 153 do not meet the water quality criteria The MPCB has issued more than 5300 showcause notices to erring factories between 2011 and 2017The MPCB has limited powers to discipline errant units and hence the state has been unable to contain river pollution along its industrial zones The board can issue notices or levy a small fine But these measures are not strong enough to deter factories from emptying their waste into riversThe state has more than 75000 manufacturing units that include automobile tyre textiles chemicals and steel industries Many of them are in the PuneChinchwad regionPune attracted 45 per cent of the notices 2392 of 5276 issued to polluting factories between 2011 and 2016 This is thrice the number served to the region that attracted the secondmost Kolhapur 673Pune also has the most polluted rivers in the state according to a joint survey on water quality conducted in 2014 by the MPCB and The Energy and Resources InstituteIn 2007 the state government had drawn up a plan to develop infrastructure in the state to facilitate industrial growth The plan included Pune Nashik Nagpur Kolhapur and Aurangabad These regions along with Navi Mumbai are among the top six in the list of regions served the most notices by the MPCBFactories in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region comprising areas such as Mumbai Navi Mumbai Thane Raigad and Kalyan received about 20 per cent of the noticesThe MPCB classifies factories on the basis of a pollution index calculated by factoring in how much their operations pollute air and water and generate hazardous waste They are then classified into red orange and green categories red being heavily pollutingOf the 5276 notices issued by the MPCB 65 per cent 3445 went to factories in the red category Orange and green categories attracted 1599 and 232 notices respectivelyA look at the list of erring companies showed that largescale units were served with 47 per cent of the redcategory notices The rest were served to medium and smallscale industriesIn Kolhapur which has the secondhighest number of defaulting factories 64 per cent of redcategory notices were issued to medium and smallscale units In Navi Mumbai third in the list of regions that got the most number of notices of the 282 factories categorised as red 80 per cent are medium and smallscaleCopies of the MPCBs directives to erring companies reveal that many factories have been discharging untreated effluents into rivers such as Warna Sonpatra and Panchganga in Kolhapur Ghot in Navi Mumbai Savitri in Raigad Godavari in Nashik and Krishna in Sangli and SataraThe lax monitoring of and prosecution for water pollution in the state means that Common Effluent Treatment Plants CETPs routinely flout environmental guidelines on discharging untreated effluents into riversMedium and smallscale industries depend on common plants for the mandatory treatment of their chemical waste But the malfunctioning of even one can raise the levels of pollution caused by all the units dependent on the CETP Currently Maharashtra has 24 CETPs five more are set to come upOf five CETPs in the DombivliAmbernath belt four were not working according to a March 2016 affidavit submitted by the CPCB to the National Green Tribunal NGT Three years before that in 2013 the level of pollutants in treated effluent was found to be dangerously high at three CETPs in PuneExperts allege that the MPCB doesnt implement rules and regulations in letter and spirit Time and again social activists and NGOs have blamed the board for laxity in the enforcement of environmental normsIndiaSpend analysed 150odd notices served by the MPCB to erring units and found that in many cases multiple directives had to be issued to the same company because it simply did not respond to an earlier alert But merely serving notices means little said expertsIndustries know they can continue doing what they want to said Geetanjoy Sahu an assistant professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences TISS Mumbai who is researching on compliance and enforcement of environmental laws in India While the MPCB has issued directives to erring units it hadnt taken any legal action against them he pointed outPolluting companies only needed to give an assurance to the MPCB that they would comply with the norms and pay a small fine IndiaSpends investigations found But law requires that any company found polluting its surroundings ought to be penalised and directed to restore the environment within a stipulated timeThe Bombay High Court too had taken note of such violations in an order passed after hearing a public interest litigation PIL in December 2011 The high court had observed that whenever the MPCBs regional officer sought to act against the polluting units in MIDC Mahad the chairperson of the board would modify the closure noticeThe chairperson would then impose certain conditions on the company and levy a fine to let it continue its operations the court observed The companies in question would then continue to flout pollution control normsThat is not a satisfactory manner of dealing with the problem The damage is being caused to the rivers by the polluting industries the high court noted while issuing a showcause notice to the MPCB chairpersonFor Maharashtra the year 2015 began with the Bharatiya Janata PartyShiv Sena government scrapping the 15yearold Rivers Regulation Zone policy This was seen as a step towards the governments bid to promote manufacturing under its Make in Maharashtra campaignThe move enabled all industries to set up their factories near rivers sparking fears of aggravating water pollution Besides widespread protests and PILs even the NGT asked the state why the decision shouldnt be considered invalid from the outsetThe pollution control board has a sanctioned strength of 840 employees Of these 275 were vacant as on January 01 2017 On average 150 posts were vacant each year during the last five years an analysis of annual reports shows Of the 840strong workforce only about 350 belong to technical and scientific teamsThe MPCB is required by law to grant or refuse consent to the operation of new factories within 120 days of a request for permission If the board doesnt give its verdict in this period consents are deemed granted As of January 2013 more than 17500 consents had been pending for more than 120 days according to the boards own recordsThis is an alarming situation These 17500 factories can start operations without having the mandatory environment protection guidelines from the board said Sahu of TISSIn April 2016 the NGT had directed the union environment ministry to intervene noting that the MPCB had failed to check the discharge of untreated effluent into Ulhas river in Mumbai metropolitan region In view of the MPBCs inability to do its job the CPCB had requested permission to monitor Maharashtras CETPsThe treatment of liquid waste is a costly affair for any factory more so for a chemical unit a former senior official of the pollution control board on condition of anonymity told IndiaSpend A bribe could help keep costs low said the officialAs many as 1726 industrial units in Maharashtra that are prone to polluting water have only partial facilities to treat their effluents according to the Comptroller and Auditor Generals 2011 report on the MPCB The report said 356 units have no treatment facility at allIn arrangement with IndiaSpendorg a datadriven nonprofit public interest journalism platform Paul amp Sood are Bengalurubased independent reporters associated with 101reporterscom a panIndia network of grassroot journalists The views expressed are those of IndiaSpend