The 400-km stretch from Vapi to Mehsana, known as Gujarat’s Golden Corridor, has been classified as a critically polluted area by the Central Pollution Control Board. There are 1,300 units in Vapi of which 34 per cent are chemical and dye manufacturing units while neighbouring Ankleshwar and Panoli together have 1,300 units, of which 50 per cent are into chemicals and dyes. The rest are all paper, packaging, engineering, rubber, plastic and cosmetic units.

The picture may appear to be bleak environmentally speaking, but as Gujarat’s industrial juggernaut rolls on, the state is trying hard to get its pollution management act together. Besides the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, civil society groups like the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti are working to raise awareness about environmental issues.

A big problem of the past was the trend of dumping untreated effluents into the state’s water bodies. Today, while some rogue units may still do this, the state has managed to get all the industrial estates to set up their own common effluent treatment plants (CETPs). In fact, Gujarat, which now has 21 such plants, will soon get four more. It will then emerge as the state with the largest number of CETPs, overtaking Tamil Nadu with 22 CETPs. It has, besides, 11 bio-medical waste treatment plants.

The state government has now adopted a three-fold strategy vis-a-vis critically polluted areas. All the industries are now compulsorily required to divert their hazardous waste to common effluent treatment plants. While several of the big industries have their own three-stage treatment plants, some have the capacity for primary and secondary treatment. Wastes are then sent to the CETP for the final clean-up. Industries not having any captive treatment plant have to compulsorily use the CETP.

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