‘Very alarming’ levels of pollution in 10 industrial clusters: report

A study of 88 major industrial hubs in the country finds that almost all of them are heavily polluted, with 10 needing urgent attention

A first-of-its-kind study of pollution levels in major industrial hubs in India has identified 10 hubs as having ‘very alarming’ levels of pollution.

The report, ‘Comprehensive Environmental Assessment of Industrial Clusters’, prepared by IIT-Delhi and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), lists the 10 critically polluted industrial areas as Ankleshwar and Vapi in Gujarat, Ghaziabad and Singrauli in Uttar Pradesh, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Chandrapur in Maharashtra, Ludhiana in Punjab, Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Bhiwadi in Rajasthan, and Angul Telcher in Orissa.

The study ranks 88 industrial clusters across the country on a Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI), which takes into account water, land and air pollution. CEPI will henceforth be the benchmark for grading industrial pollution and will be measured every two years.

The clusters have been ranked on a scale of 0-100; the 10 most polluted clusters score above 80. Thirty-three industrial hubs have scored about 70-80 and are categorised as ‘critically’ polluted; at least 32 others scored around 60-70 and were tagged as ‘seriously’ polluted clusters. Ten of them with a score of 50-60 are in the ‘warning’ zone.

Vapi in Gujarat along with the Sukhinder valley in Orissa were listed as being among the 10 most polluted spots on earth in a 2007 report by the US-based Blacksmith Institute, an independent environment agency. Vapi has more than 50 industrial estates and over 1,000 independent industries, mainly those related to tanning and chemicals.

Releasing the report, environment minister Jairam Ramesh hinted that new approvals for industrial activity may not be given in the 10 worst polluted areas until such time as they show some improvement.

“The idea is to identify them in order to take concerted action and to centrally monitor them at the national level, to improve the current status of their environmental components such as air and water quality,” Ramesh said.

The CPCB along with state PCBs have been asked to prepare an action plan for the 43 industrial clusters, including the 10 ‘very alarmingly’ and 33 ‘most severely’ polluted areas, within the next three months, he added.