With ever-growing pollution by industries, vehicles and other human development activities in the state, the Telangana Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has initiated various measures to contain pollution and protect the environment . The most significant among them is installation of most advanced laboratory equipment for testing pollutants and at the same time entrusting research studies to analyze and find out the real impact of pollutants on air, water and land due to the release of harmful chemicals from factories, vehicles and other manufacturing units.
For instant, a few months ago, the TSPCB had entrusted ground water and air pollution modeling studies to National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Environment Protection Training and Research Institute (EPTRI) to check and find out the extent of pollution caused by the pharma industries with their gaseous and liquid pollutants in air and land.
For conducting test for ground water pollution by the pharma industries, the TSPCB has taken up Choutuppal industrial cluster, on a pilot basis. “There are 30-40 bulk drugs and other pharma related industries concentrated in the Choutuppal area. To assess the extent of pollution in the region, we have allocated Rs.25 lakhs to NEERI for conducting the model studies on ground water pollution by the bulk drug industries. We choose this region because we have been constantly receiving complaints from people regarding ground water pollution by the bulk drug industries. Therefore we wanted to find out the truth up to what level the ground water is polluted and what its major causes are. Similarly we have also entrusted EPTRI to conduct model testing of quality of air and other air pollutants that cause pungent smell emanating from the industries. For this we have allocated Rs.30 lakhs to EPTRI. A research team from EPTRI has already started testing the air samples from three industrial areas of IDA Jeedimetla, IDA Bollaram and IDA Khajipally region surrounding Hyderabad,” said N Raveendhar, senior environmental scientist at TSPCB.
As a part of laboratory testing for air pollution and water pollution, TSPCB has procured most advanced and sophisticated laboratory equipment sponsored by World Bank. The TSPCB has spent Rs.10 lakhs to procure the GCMS laboratory equipment to test the organic matter in the water. Similarly about Rs.20 lakhs have been spent to procure ICP spectra to test the presence of inorganic materials and all kinds of metals in the polluted water.
“We have installed all these sophisticated laboratory equipment at our zonal laboratories each at Ramachandrapuram at Patancheru and at Warangal district. There are about 46 bulk drug industries which have been identified as highly polluting industries in the state, among them 37 have installed Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLDs) machines in their plants. The remaining nine bulk drug units are yet to install the ZLDs,” informed Raveendhar.
However, even after the installation of the ZLDs some of the bulk drug industries are doing excess production more than they have mentioned in their applications because of which there is a possibility of more discharge of pollution. To contain this, the TSPCB has decided to install cameras at all the ZLD machines and monitor them by connecting these cameras using special software and a dedicated server to monitor these cameras.
The TSPCB has also installed about 30 mobile vans to carry the pollutants from the industries and dump it at the common effluent plants. All these mobile vehicles are connected to the GPS system and their movement is being monitored constantly by the TSPCB authorities.
Online Consent Management system
Another significant administrative change that has been incorporated for speeding up approvals and giving no objection certificates (NOC), the TSPCB has introduced the ‘Online Consent Management System (OCMS)’ for obtaining NOC for new industries. The main objective of OCMS is to make functioning of TSPCB more efficient and transparent without giving scope for any corruption while granting permission for newly set up industries.
“We have recently introduced the online consent management system using which the industries can submit their application online and after upon checking all the requirements fulfilled in the online application we will grant NOC in just one week's time. For red, orange and green industries, we are giving NOC for three, four, five years respectively. Similarly, they can also have the renewal facility online by paying the required renewal fees,” said N Raveendhar, senior environmental scientist at TSPCB.