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.

With continuous monitoring and sample-testing, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board is apparently keeping these industries on their toes. The result: 98 per cent of chemical, dyeing and other industries in Vapi use Asia’s biggest CETP, which has a capacity to treat 54 million litres per day. Most of the industries in Ankleshwar use the two CETPs set up there, while neighbouring Jhaghadia will soon get its own treatment plant. With this system in place, the State’s Pollution Control Board argues that there is very little chance of untreated wastes being released into the rivers and streams of southern Gujarat.

But the most impressive gains seem to be in terms of air pollution control. Both Ankleshwar and Vapi were declared ‘unattainable’ by the Central Pollution Control Board due to its air pollution. However, an ‘Air Action Plan’ put into place in January 2005 has not only brought down air pollution levels, they are now under permissible levels. The GPCB’s strategy of putting the onus of air pollution above permissible levels on the industries themselves appears to have paid off. They do that by monitoring air quality regularly, and identifying erring units through regular inspections. If the treatment process of hazardous gases is not satisfactory, industries are simply asked to upgrade to new technology or face closure. After the ‘Air Action Plan’ was put in place, most of the industries have shifted to newer technologies like the use of wet scrubbers, bag filters or the more superior electro-static precipitation.

As for hazardous solid waste, the state government has created, at Ankleshwar and Vapi, two landfill sites built according to the guidelines of the Central Pollution Control Board. The bottom of the landfills are layered with two coatings of high density polyethelene and the walls are lined with clay that is non-permeable. This makes it almost impossible for the waste to contaminate groundwater or land. Right now all the solid waste from Ankleshwar and Vapi is dumped into these two landfills.

It appears then that environment is firmly on the agenda. The Supreme Court has helped nudge the process along by instituting in March 2004, a monitoring committee to look into the dumping of hazardous wastes in the Golden Corridor. The committee had noted that some industries were discharging their effluents through reverse boring and had suggested the urgent measures needed be clean up the area. Today, more than two years after the committee’s visit, there are some areas like Luna in Padra taluka of Vadodara district, and villages around the Ankleshwar and Vapi industrial estates, which continue to be highly polluted. But the difference today is that new laws, a more alert public, and the fear of the court have together nudged the administration to be more alert to such violations. Call it the environmental learning curve, Gujarat style.