Question : Environmental Pollution by Industries

(a) whether the Ministry is taking any steps to control the air pollution coming from industries and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Ministry is planning to manufacture any machine or tower to control the air pollution in the cities and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has received complaints regarding environmental pollution caused by pharmaceutical industries in Telangana including in Bhongir district particularly in Choutuppal and Pochampally areas in the last five years and current year till date;
(d) if so, the details thereof;
(e) the action taken thereon along with the penalties imposed/collected and number of such industries closed till date; and
(f) if not, the reasons therefor and the role of State Pollution Control Board in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI ASHWINI KUMAR CHOUBEY)

(a ) For prevention and control of industrial pollution, the Government has notified industry specific emission and effluent standards under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. Environmental standards for 86 sectors have been notified so far, out of which, emission standards have been notified for 63 industrial sectors. These standards are enforced through consent mechanism. Further, Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) have been installed in highly polluting industries for 24X7 monitoring and alerts are being provided to various stake holders for taking corrective actions for controlling pollution from the industries in case of exceedance to the prescribed standards.

(b) The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its order dated 13.01.2020 in Writ Petition (Civil) 13029/1985 had directed for installation of two smog towers. In compliance to the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, two experimental pilot projects of smog towers are operational at Anand Vihar and Connaught Place in Delhi. The smog tower is intended for localized reduction of PM2.5 and PM10.

(c) to (e) Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has received a total of 73 number of complaint during the period from 2017 to till date (2021). The details are at Annexure I. The Board has imposed penalties on the non-complying Pharmaceuticals industries in the form of forfeiture of the Bank Guarantees. During last five years TSPCB forteited a total number of 27 Bank Guarantees. The details are at Annexure II.

(f) TSPCB conducts regular monitoring to ensure the compliance of stipulated environmental norms for industrial units including Pharmaceutical industries. TSPCB is attending to the complaints received on the polluting industries and redressing the same on priority.

Further, various committees, like, High level Expert Committee, Joints Inspection Team, Task Force Committee, Rolling Task Force Teams, Multi Disciplinary Team, etc. have been constituted for monitoring of Pharmaceutical industries located in Choutuppal and Pochhampally Mandals.

Based on recommendation of Task Force Committee constituted by TSPCB appropriate Directions or Closures Orders, etc are issued to the industries based on the severity of violations.

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