Annual Report 2017-18
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ANNUALANNUAL REPORTREPORT 2017-2018 West Bengal Pollution Control Board Annual Report 2017-18 Published by: Member Secretary West Bengal Pollution Control Board Paribesh Bhawan, 10A, Block – LA, Sector – III, Bidhannagar, Kolkata – 700 106. Printed at : Saraswaty Press Ltd. 11, B.T. Road, Belgharia, Kolkata- 700 056 ii Annual Report 2017-18 iii Annual Report 2017-18 About the Annual Report The Annual Report of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board during the financial year 2017- 2018 is a compact and detail informative report. In its first chapter, it describes about the Board - its constitution, composition, statutory mandates, infrastructure and it’s functional structure. The remaining chapters elaborates the activities (including necessary data and information) performed by the State Board in various environmental aspects during the period. v Annual Report 2017-18 Contents Chapter 1 About the West Bengal Pollution Control Board 01 Chapter 2 Restructuring of EIA procedure in 2006 and resulting new challenges 09 for WBPCB Chapter 3 Industrial Pollution Control 40 Chapter 4 Management of Classified Wastes 45 Chapter 5 Automobile Pollution Control 48 Chapter 6 Environmental Monitoring Programme 54 Chapter 7 Legal Matters 119 Chapter 8 Public Grievance Redressal 123 Chapter 9 Major Policy decisions of the Board 125 Chapter 10 Implementation of Right To Information Act, 2005 126 Chapter 11 Capacity building of Board personnel 136 Chapter 12 Environmental Awareness Programmes 142 Chapter 13 New Initiatives of the State Board 159 Chapter 14 Externally aided projects of the State Board 160 Chapter 15 Financial Summary of the State Board 166 Annexures Annexure I Industry Category List of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board 172 Annexure II Industrial Siting (Locational) Policy of West Bengal 187 Annexure III Application Fees for licenses from West Bengal Pollution Control Board 196 Annexure IV List of 17 Category Industries and Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) 201 Annexure V Hearing conducted by the State Board during 2017-18 219 Annexure VI Status of imposing Bank Guarantee by the Board during (2017-18) 213 Annexure VII Closure Orders issued by the State Board (2017-18) 217 vii Annual Report 2017-18 Chapter- 1 ABOUT THE WEST BENGAL POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD 1.1 Constitution of the Board The West Bengal Pollution Control Board was constituted by the Government of West Bengal in the year 1974 under the first federal environmental legislation of the country, the ‘Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act’. The West Bengal Pollution Control Board is the statutory authority responsible for abatement and control of environmental pollution within the territorial jurisdiction of the state of West Bengal. During the subsequent years a number of environmental regulations on different environmental issues were promulgated by the Indian Parliament and the State Boards of different states were given the responsibilities to implement those regulations in their respective jurisdictions. The major environmental Acts and Rules being implemented by the State Board are mentioned below. ¾ The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, as amended This was the first federal environmental legislation of the country, enacted for prevention and control of water pollution. The Central and the State Pollution Control Boards were constituted under this Act for its implementation to implement the Act. The Act provides the State Pollution Control Boards necessary regulatory powers for prevention and control of water pollution from point sources and also to maintain and restore wholesomeness of the water. ¾ The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, as amended This Act empowered the State Pollution Control Boards for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution. This Act also empowered the State Pollution Control Boards to ensure emission of various gaseous pollutants from different point and non-point sources within the prescribed standards. ¾ The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, as amended This umbrella Act was introduced to protect and improve the environment on a holistic basis with a necessary legal framework for ensuring the same. The Act also provides the Government of India the power to notify any Rules, as felt necessary, for protection and improvement of the environment. Some major environmental Rules, as mentioned below, were subsequently notified by the Government of India under this Act. ¾ The Hazardous and other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 These Rules were notified to ensure safe storage, transport, treatment and disposal of various categories of hazardous wastes specifically mentioned in the Rules. Under the provisions of these Rules, the occupier of different activities generating hazardous wastes becomes legally responsible for taking all practical steps to ensure proper handling and disposal of such wastes. ¾ The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989, as amended These Rules provide the State Pollution Control Boards and some other Government Departments necessary power to ensure that various hazardous chemicals, with their respective threshold limits, are manufactured, imported, stored and used in an environmentally safe manner. ¾ The Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. These Rules were formulated for environment friendly and safe management and handling of Bio-medical wastes generated from different health care facilities. ¾ The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. These Rules were introduced to ensure recycling of plastic wastes in an environmentally safe manner without creating any environmental problem. It also imposed certain restrictions on the manufacture and use of recycled plastic carry bags and containers. 1 Annual Report 2017-18 ¾ The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Under these Rules the duties of different stakeholders, who are legally responsible for ensuring safe management and handling of municipal solid wastes by proper transport, treatment and disposal of such wastes as per the provisions of the rule, have been mentioned. ¾ The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000, as amended These Rules intend to regulate and control noise-producing and noise-generating sources. ¾ The Ozone Depleting Substances (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 These Rules were framed in compliance with the international obligations for gradual phasing out of various Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) and to provide the major user of ODS to access non-ODS technologies, using international funding. ¾ The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001, as amended These Rules were prepared on the concept of extended producer responsibility, ensuring inter-alia that the generator of batteries takes the responsibility of environmental friendly recycling of used batteries. ¾ The E-waste (Management) Rules, 2016. These Rules were introduced on the concept of extended producer responsibility to regulate the management and handling of all types of wastes of electric or electronic equipment, whole or in part or rejects from their manufacturing and repair process, which are intended to be discarded. ¾ The Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016 The intention of the Rule is to improve the collection, segregations, recycling, treatment and disposal of solid waste in an environmentally sound manner. The Rule Emphasis on the roles and accountability of waste generators and various stakeholders. Thrust is given for segregation, recovery, reuse, recycle at source, address in detail the management of construction and demolition waste. ¾ Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, as amended The notification was first published in 1994, necessitating a group of listed activities requiring environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India. In 1997, the process of public consultation was made mandatory for the listed activities for obtaining environmental clearance. Major restructuring of this notification was done by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India in the year 2006, whereupon the process was made simpler and unambiguous as also avoiding unnecessary delay in getting environmental clearance for the listed activities. Restructuring of the notification provides formation of State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) in addition to the Central Authority and both these authorities were provided with the power to consider the environmental clearance for specified projects as listed in this notification depending on the spatial and temporal impact of such activities. ¾ The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991, as amended The Act ensured that chemical industries, using various hazardous chemicals, provide the necessary funding for meeting the financial implication of any chemical accident arising out of manufacture, storage, usage etc. of listed hazardous chemicals. The funds are to be kept with the insurance authority. The district authorities have been empowered to take decisions to compensate the public affected due to any possible chemical accident. 1.2 Composition of the Board As per the section 4 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and section 5 of the Air 2 Annual Report 2017-18 (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, the State Board is comprised of the Chairman, the Member Secretary and fourteen other members nominated by the State Government. The members of the Board include the representatives of