Kolhapur: The district environment committee on Tuesday slammed the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for its failure to control the pollution of Panchaganga river.
The environment committee held a review meeting here ahead of a meeting called by the Pune divisional commissioner S Chockalingam on December 2. The committee under Chokalingam is appointed by the Bombay high court.
The committee members slammed the pollution board for failing to address the pollution caused by sugar mills and small and medium industries along the banks of the river. The issue of clean chit given to several industries and sugar mills by the board was discussed in the meeting.
Environmental expert Uday Gaikwad said, "Some industries which were closed for violating norms have been given permission to run again by the board. In case of sugar mills, the effluent discharge leads to pollution and no measures are in place to treat the effluent. The board revoked the ban on such units where over-crushing of sugarcane took place in the last season. We are going to demand explanation from the board in the meeting called by Pune divisional commissioner."
Acting district collector NandkumarKatkar who chaired the meeting said that the MPCB should zero in on factors responsible for river pollution. "The board should undertake regular exercise of inspecting the quality of effluent treatment taking place in the mills and processing units. The board revealed that 80 of 120 industrial units along the banks of the river have effluent treatment plants but action against the rest of the units has been pending for many years," said Gaikwad.
The inability of the Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) to treat the biomedical waste generated in the city and close the slaughter houses also discussed in the meeting.
Over 100 issues related to environment pollution were raised by activists and experts who demanded explanations from various agencies such as MPCB and KMC.
