Rediff On The NeT:SC clamps down on industries polluting Yamuna

The Supreme Court on Monday banned thousands of factories from discharging untreated industrial effluents into the Yamuna river in New Delhi and the neighbouring state of Haryana. Judges B N Kirpal and S Rajendra Babu said river pollution in north India had reached an "alarming proportion" and had to be checked.

"We direct every industry in Delhi not to discharge their effluents either into the river or into drains leading to the river." The judges added that factories in the neighbouring state of Haryana would also have to heed the ban.

"It is a major victory for us," said R C Trivedi of the Central Pollution Control Board, which has been waging a campaign to reign in factories polluting the Yamuna, one of the main rivers in north India.

"We supplied the apex court with studies to show the dangerous level of toxins released into the Yamuna every day by some 15,000 to 20,000 factories in Delhi alone," said the senior scientist.

Trivedi said small to medium-size soap and detergent, textile, electroplating, small engineering, and auto factories were the main culprits.

"Tests conducted in our laboratories on water samples collected from the Yamuna show that toxin levels are dangerously high and as a result, the water unsafe for drinking."

Rajat Banerjee, from the Centre for Science and Environment, said the ban would give "more teeth" to pollution-control agencies.

"State pollution control boards and the police can now crack down and seal thousands of hole-in-the-wall workshops and factories that are spewing poison into the Yamuna," said Banerjee.

"It cannot be business as usual for them. This ban, if seriously implemented, will force businessmen of medium size factories to invest around Rs 1 million in water effluent plants." Banerjee, however, said implementation was the tough part.

"It will not be easy to track down small-scale industries which discharge effluents slyly into municipal drains. Their whole business is covert," said Banerjee.

"Most of them are not registered establishments so they can close shop for a month or so if there is a crackdown and resurface later when the heat is off."

The Water Act, 1974 has been amended several times to give government agencies powers to deal with growing river and ocean pollution.

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