New Delhi: More than 50 predominantly polluting units have been identified in Ghaziabad against which "priority" action will be taken, the Environment Ministry Thursday said.
"There are 333 polluting industries in Ghaziabad and 57 predominantly polluting units have been identified for priority action. During April 2014 to March 2015, show cause notices have been issued against 13 defaulting units in Ghaziabad and 11 in Noida and closure orders issued against seven defaulting units," the Ministry said in a statement.
Ministry officials said that the decision was highlighted in a presentation made by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on action taken to check industrial pollution by four states -- UP, Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had recently held three review meetings with the respective state environment ministers.
Similarly, elaborating about action taken in Rajasthan, the Environment Ministry statement said that the Regional Office in Alwar has carried out emission monitoring of 20 major air-polluting industries in the last three months.
"Out of these 20 monitored industries, 9 industries were found exceeding the stack emission standards. State Board has issued show cause notices under Air Act 1981 to the non-compliant units," the statement said.
The regional Office also carried out air monitoring of 43 industrial units which include stone crushers (11), brick kilns (19) and mineral grinding (13).
Out of 43 units, 12 units were found exceeding the prescribed limits of stack emission and ambient air. Show cause notices have been issued under Air Act 1981, to non-compliant units, the statement said.
It said that the regional office in Bharatpur has carried out air monitoring of 14 air-polluting units, which includes stone crushers (4) and brick kilns (10) which were found to be compliant with the prescribed air quality standards.
The Rajasthan pollution control board is pursuing the industries in NCR sub-region to switch over to cleaner fuels like PNG and LPG.
In case of Haryana, the Environment Ministry statement said that regular surveillance and check is being performed by Haryana SPCB in thermal power plants like NTPC Faridabad and Panipat Thermal Power Station.
"There are a total of 14 incinerators in NCR cities of Haryana and are being monitored at regular intervals. Haryana SPCB has reported that out of approximately 7,000 industries, 5,000 industries have air pollution control devices while for the rest, steps are being taken to install them," the statement said.
There are around 2000 brick kilns in NCR cities of Haryana where air quality monitoring had taken place and requires further monitoring and surveillance.
In Uttar Pradesh, two continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations are planned to be set up soon in Noida and Ghaziabad while additional manual AAQMS are being set up in Hapur and are expected to be operational within two months, the statement said.
In Rajasthan, ambient air quality monitoring station are being established at Bhiwadi and Alwar while in Haryana, three such stations are operational in Gurgaon, Rohtak and Panchkula.
"Data of all four cities are displayed in real time to the website of CPCB and HSPCB. There is a proposal for three new stations in NCR region - Sonepat, Panipat and Dharuhera," the statement said.
The statement said that in terms of waste and municipal solid waste, there is no established sanitary landfill site in NCR cities of Uttar Pradesh but the state government is taking steps to establish them.
In NCR areas covered in Rajasthan, there are seven sanitary landfill sites or dump yards in which ambient air pollution monitoring has been conducted.
An awareness programme is being launched in Uttar Pradesh particularly in the area of Noida and Ghaziabad to educate industries as well as people about pollution while the Rajasthan state board has requested the Principal Secretary, Department of Local Self Government to direct all local municipal authorities to ensure that open burning of MSW should not be conducted.
Haryana SPCB publishes air quality data and material for the awareness of general public regarding effects of air pollution, the statement said.
