Annual Report 2009 - 2010 Gujarat Pollution Control Board Preface Now commonly known as GPCB - Gujarat Pollution Control Board, was constituted by Government of Gujarat on 15th October, 1974 in accordance with the provision of the Water Act, 1974. The GPCB continued its efforts towards environment related better pollution control and improved management. Several critical issues in the field of environment are being tackled by the Board through its existing Regional Offices located at Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi, Rajkot, Jamnagar, Godhra, Mehsana, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Nadia and Junagadh. Stress is laid on environmental infrastructures to meet challenges of environmental pollution under the ‘Swarnim Gujarat’ programmes of Government of Gujarat. Though basic functions of the Board is remained as regulatory, it has also been organising various awareness programmes, from time to time on local issues of municipal solid wastes, bio-medical wastes, plastic issues besides water, air and land pollution generated from various industrial clusters. Efforts are being made for pollution control with a view to minimize and prevent pollution. The GPCB, Head Office, Gandhinagar has been registered as by the BIS- Bureau of Indian Standards, Delhi under the Quality Management Systems in accordance with IS/ISO 9001:2000. The Board continued to make joint efforts with government concerned offices, municipal corporations, municipalities, hospitals, towns and municipalities, educational institutions, Industries Associations. etc. Awareness programmes have helped be an effective tool in detecting and controlling the environmental pollution. In the field of e-Governance programme of GPCB, vizly. XGN (eXtension Green Node) was launched by Shri Mangubhai Patel, Hon'ble Minister, Tribal Development, Forest & Environment on 5th June- the World Environment Day, 2008. During the year under the report, the XGN facility has also been introduced to facilitate filing returns under the Water Cess Act, 1977, and obtaining an online assessment orders. Implementation of this XGN software has been granted a Silver Award by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievance, Government of India on 18.2.2010. The Board has been progressing remarkably in the field of e-governance. During the period under report, the Chief Secretary to the Government of Gujarat who is also the Chairperson of the Task Force for implementation of the Air Action Plan reviewed the action taken and efforts made to arrive at successful results in reducing pollution in Ahmedabad city. As per report of the CPCB, Delhi, 85 cities in India monitored periodically, to record RSPM [Respirable suspended particulate matter] level, shows the ranking of Ahmedabad continuously improved from 4th in year 2001 to 13th in year 2005, 43rd in year 2006, 66th in year 2008 and 66th in year 2009, position. EPCA (EPCA popularly known as ‘Bhurelal Committee’) mentioned the progress made in the implementation of the Air Action Plan for Ahmedabad as satisfactory. Similarly the District level Task Force headed by District Collectors have also continued to monitor Air Action Plan for the towns of Vapi, Surat, Ankleshwar, Vadodara and Rajkot, periodically. In case of Vadodara city, trend in air quality particularly respirable air pollutant has shown remarkable improvement. Despite pro-active efforts by various Government Authorities, the MoEF, GoI issued office memorandum dt. 13.1.2010 and declared Ankleshwar, Vapi, Ahmedabad, Vatva, Bhavnagar and Junagadh as critically polluted areas among few others in the country. Ofcourse, MoEF issued revised order dated 15.3.02010 and declared Ankleshwar, Panoli, Vapi, Odhav, Naroda, Vatva, Narol industrial area, Chitra-Bhavnagar and few industrial pockets of Junagadh as critically polluted areas. Action Plans for each of these places are prepared by the Board in consultation with F&ED Govt. of Gujarat, CPCB - Delhi and MoEF, GoI. During the year under report, second round of departmental examinations were conducted as per GPCB (Recruitment) Rules, 2007. This has paved way for elevating few Class I, II & Class III employees to higher posts. This has further boot their morals, as they were awaiting their dues past many years. Mostly all officers and employees have passed their respective computer examination conducted by the conducted through State Government machinery. During the year under report, the Board continued to organise scores of awareness programmes including posters exhibitions, seminars in major towns and cities and addressed another area of environmental importance i.e. educating all concerned people including medical and para medical persons for effective implementation of Municipal solid wastes, Bio-medical Wastes, plastic wastes issues, noise pollutions, etc. The Board through its the Regional Offices co-ordinated with the District Authorities and also participated in various District level programmes viz. District level mock drills, video conferences held by District administration, District Collectorates and Municipal Corporations, programmes of Nirmal Gujarat, Swarnim Gujarat, Vibrant Gujarat, Consumer Protection Committee. The Lok Darbars / Gram Sabha meetings have also helped in also addressing the Gram Sabha concerned of the public at large. The Board continued with the system of holding review meetings for expediting clearance of the application including the CCA-Consolidated Consent and Authorization. GPCB together with the Forest & Environment Department in Government of Gujarat and in co-ordination with other departments of State and Central Government has been playing an affirmative role in tackling the problem related with pollution of air, water and land. : Gandhinagar Dr.K.U. Mistry : 11.5.2010 Chairman, GPCB Index Sr. Particulars Page 1. Introductory 1 2. Constitution of the Board including changes therein. 1 3. Meetings of the Board 1 4. Sub-Committees of the Board and their working 2 5. Area Sub-Committees of the Board and their working 2 6. Activities of the Board, Objectives, Functions & Priorities 2 6.1 Objectives 2 6.2 Functions 3 6.3 Priorities 4 6.4 Activities of the Board 5 CCA, Water, Air, Haz, Consent to establish (formerly NOC), BMW, Plastic, monitoring under Water, Air, Haz. 6.5 Pollution control measures - ETP and APCM. 12 6.6 CETP [Common ETP-effluent treatment plants] 13 6.7 Hazardous wastes facilities 15 6.8 Domestic Sewage Treatment Plants 18 6.9 Bio-medical wastes facilities 22 6.10 Municipal Solid Wastes Rules 24 6.11 Batteries Rules 27 6.12 Water Cess 28 6.13 Air Action Plans- Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, 29 Rajkot(Morbi, Vankaner, Wadhvan), Jamnagar, Vapi & Gandhinagar. 6.14 Environmental Clearance – Public Hearing 37 6.15 Water Quality Monitoring Programmes - GEMS, MINARS projects, rivers, reservoirs, Lakes/Talav, wells 6.16 Air Quality Monitoring Programmes - Ambient Air Monitoring, Status of Ambient Monitoring Programme, National Ambient Monitoring, cities & various places 6.17 Coastal Monitoring Programmes 6.18 Monitoring during Festival Programmes 6.19 Bio- Monitoring 6.20 Analytical quality control. 6.21 Ambient air quality - Navratri, Diwali, and noise levels i-xli 6.22 Environmental Awareness programmes 1-43 6.23 Xgn - Online application awareness programmes & Award. 34 6.24 Mock - drill. 35 6.25 Important events. 35 7. Visits to the Board by experts, important persons, etc. 42 8. Administrative set up of the Board, Board Meetings – Important 1 decisions thereof. 9. Prosecution launched and offences compounded 3 10. Finance and accounts of the Board 5 11. Direction given by the Government and steps taken to comply 5 with them 12. Any other important matter dealt with by the State Board. 5 Annexures I Members of the Gujarat Pollution Control Board a II Members of the Selection Committee b III Members of the Promotion Committee c IV Members of the Technical Committee d V GPCB Purchase Committee e VI Staff strength for each cadre of the Board 132-133 VII Administrative set up h VIII Offices of the Board i 1.0 Introductory The Government of Gujarat constituted the GPCB [Gujarat Pollution Control Board] on 15.10.1974 as per provisions under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the with a view to protect the environment, prevent and control the pollution of water in the State of Gujarat, that occupies a prominent niche in progressive and industrial development of the country. The Board has been entrusted with the Central Acts and relevant Rules for pollution control as notified thereof from time to time. The Board had initially, staff of 25 in 1974. Though, the staff strength has increased to 427 yet it is far less than that required by the Board to implement aforesaid laws, effectively. As of today, there are 87 engineers and 97 scientist and analysts. There are now thirteen Regional Offices made functional so far. There are six Regional Offices attached with laboratory facilities are located at Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Vapi, Rajkot and Jamnagar. Regional Offices Godhra, Mehsana, Ahmedabad and Bhavnagar are yet being equipped for analytical facilities. Three Regional Offices located at Bhuj Nadiad and Junagadh are under development stages. The Head Office performs activities concerning general polices and enforcement of various provisions of the Acts as well as general administration and co-ordination with other agencies. The Central Laboratory at Gandhinagar provided facilities for analysis of samples collected by RO, Ahmedabad as well as RO, Mehsana, besides being