'DNA' investigations: Disaster in offing as 4,000 industrial units flout norms

Brazenly flouting environmental norms, hundreds of manufacturing units in Mumbai are operating illegally, without even the most basic “consent to operate” from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB).

While MPCB officials estimate that there are about 4,000 such illegal units operating in Mumbai’s industrial hubs, information obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act shows that as many as 150 manufacturing units that are operating without the consent of the MPCB were served show cause notices by the official body entrusted with the task of regulating polluting industries in the state.  None of the 150 units responded to the notices.
According to officials, most of these polluting units are electroplating, plastic and others located in the densely populated manufacturing hubs of Kherani road in Andheri and in Kurla.
Recently, the MPCB sent a proposal to the government suggesting that the units either be regularised or forcibly moved out of the city, said MPCB regional officer Dr Jitendra Sangewar. Though a large number of these are small units, they cumulatively account for grave air and water pollution, he added.
According to rules, any industry that is likely to discharge sewage or effluents into the environment or are likely to emit any pollutants into the atmosphere must obtain consent of the state pollution control board under the provisions of law.

There are two kinds of consent. First, all industries must obtain “consent to establish” before actual commencement of the works for establishing the industry, including trial production. Following this, they need to obtain “consent to operate” which is given for a stipulated period and needs to be renewed periodically, while ensuring that emission and discharge of pollutants is within prescribed limits.

Running a polluting industry without the mandatory clearances is an offence and the owner is liable to face stringent actions, including closure and prosecution, said Sudarshan Rodriguez, an environment expert and senior project coordinator at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).

There are high chances that these units are polluting the environment by discharging untreated liquid and solid waste, he added. “It would be interesting to see what action the pollution control board would take besides sending a show cause notice to prosecute them,” he added.

Experts say 4,000 estimated polluting and illegal units is a dangerously large number for a polluted city like Mumbai.

According to official records, in the last two years, the MPCB has also issued notices to at least 671 units in Pune for various violations of environmental laws, including operating without the consent of the regulator, while the tally for Nagpur city is 328. In the same period, across the state nearly 2,259 units have found been found violating guidelines.

While the figure is only for the Mumbai city, large units across the state were found to be running without the consent of the pollution control board in recent years. For example, an infrastructure development company with a turnover of more than $1bn, was operating its concrete manufacturing unit in Pune without any consent for more than four years.