Online Monitoring of Pollution

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) issued direction under Section 18(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to all State Pollution Control Board (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs)  to further direct industries for installation of online monitoring system in highly polluting 17 categories of industries/Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs)/ Biomedical facility/common hazardous waste facility.

Further, under section 5 of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, CPCB has also issued directions to all the industries falling under 17 categories of highly polluting industries to install online continuous emission/effluent monitoring system and ensure connectivity of data to SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB servers.

CPCB directed SPCBs/PCCs to issue closure directions to existing industries falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned on or before 28.02.2017 if found operating without installation and connectivity of OCEMS. SPCBs/PCCs were also directed to incorporate a specific condition of installing and connecting OCEMS before start of operation in the Consent Order (CTO) of a newly established industry falling under 17 categories of industries and common treatment facilities, commissioned after 28.02.2017.

During 2014-2022, out of 4247 industrial units, 3535 industries have installed and connected OCEMS to CPCB and SPCB server. The closure directions for remaining 712 industries are still in-force. The purpose of the direction was to create self-regulation and monitoring by the industries themselves for complying with the stipulated standards. Sector-wise status regarding connectivity of OCEMS is attached at Annexure-I.

From these OCEMS, real-time values of environmental pollutants of trade effluent and emissions from industrial units are transmitted online to the server of CPCB and concerned SPCB/PCC on 24×7 basis. Central software processes the data and in case of value of pollutant parameter exceeds prescribed environmental norms, an automatic SMS alert is generated and sent to industrial unit, SPCB and CPCB, so that corrective measures can be taken by the industry immediately and appropriate action can be taken by concerned SPCB/PCC.

There are total 4,433 highly polluting 17-categories of industries in the country.  Appropriate actions are taken against non-complying units. State-wise status of 17 categories of highly polluting industries is given at Annexure-II.

Government has taken various initiatives towards control of pollution caused by industrial sector which are as follow:

 

• Notification of industry-specific discharge standards under Schedule-I: ‘Standards for Emission or Discharge of Environmental Pollutants from various Industries’ of Environment Protection Act, 1986. SPCB and PCCs are mandated to ensure the compliance of these standards. So far, industry specific environmental standards, for about 80 industrial sectors, have been notified.

• The SPCBs/PCCs issue consent to establish/ consent to operate and authorization to the industries in the States. Also, the SPCBs/PCCs monitor the compliance of industrial emissions/effluent discharges and other operational activities according to the prescribed standards.

• Since 2016, CPCB has started inspection of 17 categories of highly polluting industries on the basis of SMS alerts generated on violation of effluent and emission standards. In case of non-compliance, action against industry is taken under provisions of Water Act, 1974, Air Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

• The criteria for categorization of industries has been revised and directed all SPCBs/PCCs to adopt the same. 254 industrial sectors are categorized into red (61), orange (90), green (65) and white (38) categories.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

 

 

ANNEXURE – I

 

Sector-wise Status of Installation of OCEMS
S. No.	Sector	Total no. of targeted units for OCEMS installation	Total No. of units installed OCEMS and connected with CPCB server	Total No. of units against which closure directions u/s 5 of E(P)A, 1986 are in force
1	Aluminium	14	12	2
2	Cement	394	301	93
3	Chloralkali	33	33	0
4	Copper	3	3	0
5	Distillery	366	285	81
6	Dye & Dye Intermediates	122	96	26
7	Fertilizer	117	96	21
8	Iron & Steel	424	358	66
9	Pesticide	82	71	11
10	Petrochemical	36	30	6
11	Pharmaceuticals	774	673	101
12	Pulp & Paper	307	245	62
13	Refinery	23	23	0
14	Sugar	646	498	148
15	Tannery	458	417	41
16	Thermal Power Plant	443	391	52
17	Zinc	5	3	2
Total		4247	3535	712

 

Annexure-II

 

Compliance Status of  17 Category of Industries
Sl. No.	SPCB/PCC	Total no. of industries	No. of industries closed  by their own	No. of industries operational	No. of industries complying with environmental standards	No. of industries non-complying with environmental standards	No. of industries against which action is  taken for non-complying with environmental standards
1	Andaman & Nicobar	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Andhra Pradesh	296	34	262	234	28	28
3	Arunachal Pradesh	5	0	5	5	0	0
4	Assam	51	11	40	36	4	4
5	Bihar	43	26	17	17	0	0
6	Chandigarh	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Chhattisgarh	163	20	143	137	6	6
8	Daman & Diu	3	0	3	3	0	0
9	Delhi	3	2	1	1	0	0
10	Goa	15	2	13	12	1	1
11	Gujarat	517	76	441	344	97	97
12	Haryana	174	8	166	161	5	5
13	Himachal Pradesh	21	3	18	18	0	0
14	Jammu & Kashmir	55	0	55	52	3	3
15	Jharkhand	81	2	79	54	25	25
16	Karnataka	246	47	199	184	15	15
17	Kerala	25	5	20	20	0	0
18	Lakshadweep	0	0	0	0	0	0
19	Madhya Pradesh	96	5	91	88	3	3
20	Maharashtra	506	32	474	434	40	40
21	Manipur	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	Meghalaya	23	1	22	21	1	1
23	Mizoram	2	2	0	0	0	0
24	Nagaland	0	0	0	0	0	0
25	Odisha	186	43	143	126	17	17
26	Puducherry	7	3	4	4	0	0
27	Punjab	98	22	76	71	5	5
28	Rajasthan	197	13	184	181	3	3
29	Sikkim	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	Tamil Nadu	239	41	198	194	4	4
31	Telangana	344	47	297	268	29	29
32	Tripura	5	0	5	4	1	1
33	Uttar Pradesh	855	196	659	646	13	13
34	Uttarakhand	46	0	46	42	4	4
35	West Bengal	131	34	97	73	24	24
	Total	4433	675	3758	3430	328	328