Andhra Pradesh will soon have the distinction of being the first state in the country to have categorized the entire state into various Geographical Information System (GIS) Zones for facilitating its future industrial development plans. The state has started off with the GIS mapping of Vizag district, the future hub of chemical and pharmaceutical industry in the state, and the work is to be complete within five months. Though the political decision to set up Pharma City in 1900 acres of land near to Vizag has come, the exact location of the proposed park is to be decided after the final mapping of the region is over. Though the Pharma City and the proposed Central assisted Special Economic Zone (SEZ) have been announced to be nearby, the GIS projections call for developing both the projects in the same area, it is learnt.

The advantage the East Coast of Andhra Pradesh is to have when it comes to mega projects is that is has a ready made picture of the most environment friendly areas to set up the hazardous units. Environmental clearances for the projects planned in these areas should take the minimum time here after as the land has already been properly mapped for its potential and possible risk factors.

According to Trishya Chatterjee, member secretary, AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), all future economic and policy decisions would be based on these mappings centered on remote sensing. Indian Resources Information & Management Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (INRIMT), a city based company is presently undertaking the job for the government. The programme is part of the World Bank aided Industrial Pollution Prevention Project. The Rs six crore project follows all international procedures and has already seen the mapping of 8,000 sq km in the Vizag district.

Explaining the methods employed by INRIMT, company experts said they are mixing the MIS data of APPCB with the GIS data given by National Remote Sensing Agency and doing necessary colour coding to develop the suitability map for the region. On the whole there are about 160 parameters to be considered before expert comment can be made on the suitability of a particular stretch of land.

The agency has identified a total of 31 layers of sensitivity combining various themes of information to study the risks due to setting up of over polluting industries in a particular stretch of land. This includes the study on the effect of the effluent on the surface water, ground water, etc. It is known that drug / pharma sector can come up in the areas cleared for low air & medium water polluting industries, as well as medium air and low water polluting industries.

The areas in the map are colored as Orange, Brown and Red according to the suitability to accommodate polluting industries. Highly polluting industries would not be allowed in the Red coloured regions. "If the ground water is shallow, there is a greater possibility that industries and pesticides pollute the ground water. Thus if the physiological conditions point towards direct pollution, the area will be considered as Red." Experts said. The ongoing mapping at Vizag is considered as a pilot project. The agency was entrusted the task of undertaking the job after they demonstrated their capabilities in coming out with GIS mapping in Nellore and Prakasham. INRIMT would be the consultants for the statewide project.

The suitability maps for the entire state is expected to be ready within 18 months. APPCB would then categorise the state into three GIS zones for the purpose of having different environment policy packages. The zones are to influence the policy and economic status also. There is Rs 8 crore World Bank assistance for the project. The norms for future development, which are to be chalked out by the state, is known to become a model for all other regions in the country.

Commenting on the conditions for environmental clearance that are to be laid by the APPCB before the chemical/pharmaceutical industry units coming up at the proposed Pharma City, Chatterjee said that it would be more stringent than the existing Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) norms. While CPCB norms insist that the effluents meant for sea disposal to be within 35,000 TDS limit, APPCB is planning to insist it to 20,000 TDS. The units would also be asked to mix-up the effluents with sewage for microbial activity. "We would be asking them to go for bioassay standards", he said.