Industrial effluents from the Jhagadia Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) will now be directly sent to the Final Effluent Treatment Plant (FETP) operated by Bharuch Eco-Aqua Infrastructure Limited (BEAIL), through a separate pipeline.

BEAIL, a subsidiary of GIDC, will handle 60 million litres of effluents coming from Jhagadia GIDC, which, according to GIDC officials, has major expansion plans. BEAIL officials described it as an expansion of the conveyance facility used to transport effluents coming from various industries.

“The pipeline will run 60 kilometres on land and 10 kilometres in the sea in the Gulf of Khambat, where it is going to dispose of the effluents,” said BEAIL Chief Operating Officer M D Desai.

“As many new industries are coming up at Jhagadia, it will be difficult for one channel to handle all the effluents from Ankleshwar and Jhagadia. So this new pipeline has been laid,” added Desai.

Meanwhile, the existing capacity of the Ankleshwar FETP will be increased to 60 MLD to cater to effluents from both industrial estates.

Earlier, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had served several notices to the company for not following the inlet and outlet norms of the plants. During the visit of Minister for State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, 40-odd units were issued closure notices for not following the norms, while BEAIL, according to the CBPB, was fined for the same in 2008.

BEAIL officials, however, see this as an opportunity to start afresh for which Rs 120 crore will be spent by GIDC on the pipeline connecting Jhagadia CETPs and Ankleshwar FETPs before disposing of the effluents in the Gulf of Khambat.