Occurrence of High Arsenic Content in Groundwater
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19 MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION OCCURRENCE OF HIGH ARSENIC CONTENT IN GROUNDWATER [Action taken by Government on the recommendations contained in the First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates] COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2016-17) NINETEENTH REPORT _____________________________________________________________________ (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI NINETEENTH REPORT COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2016-17) (SIXTEENTH LOK SABHA) MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION [Action taken by Government on the recommendations contained in First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) of the Committee on Estimates] (Presented to Lok Sabha on 11.08.2016) _____________________________________________________________________ LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI August, 2016 / Shravana, 1938 (Saka) E.C. No. ________ Price : ₹ _____ © 2016 BY LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT Published under Rule 382 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha (Sixteenth Edition) and printed by the General Manager, Government of India Press, Minto Road, New Delhi – 110002. CONTENTS PAGE COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2016-17) (iii) INTRODUCTION (v) CHAPTER I Report 1 CHAPTER II Recommendations/Observations which have been 21 accepted by Government CHAPTER III Recommendations/Observations which the Committee do 38 not desire to pursue in view of Government’s replies CHAPTER IV Recommendations/Observations in respect of which 39 replies of Government’s replies have not been accepted by the Committee CHAPTER V Recommendations/Observations in respect of which final 45 replies of Government are still awaited ANNEXURES APPENDICES (i) Minutes of the Tenth Sitting (Committee on Estimates 2015- 16) and Eighth Sitting of the Committee on Estimates 2016 -17............................................ 48 (ii) Analysis of the Action Taken by the Government on the Recommendations/Observations contained in the First Report of the Committee on Estimates (Sixteenth Lok Sabha)..............................52 COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES (2016-17) Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi – Chairperson MEMBERS 2. Shri Sultan Ahmed 3. Shri A. Arunmozhithevan 4. Shri George Baker 5. Shri Kalyan Banerjee 6. Shri Ashok Shankarrao Chavan 7. Shri Dushyant Chautala 8. Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey 9. Shri Ram Tahal Choudhary 10. Col. Sonaram Choudhary 11. Shri Ramen Deka 12. Shri Sanjay Dhotre 13. Shri P.C. Gaddigoudar 14. Shri Sudheer Gupta 15. Smt. Kavitha Kalvakuntla 16. Shri P. Kumar 17. Smt. Poonam Mahajan 18. Shri K.H. Muniyappa 19. Shri Rajesh Pandey 20. Shri Ravindra Kumar Pandey 21. Shri Raosaheb Danve Patil 22 *Shri Bhagirath Prasad 23. Shri Konakalla Narayan Rao 24. Md. Salim 25. Shri Arvind Ganpat Sawant 26. Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat 27. Shri Anil Shirole 28. Shri Jugal Kishore Sharma 29. Shri Rajesh Verma 30. Shri Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav * Elected Vide Lok Sabha Bulletin Part-II No. 3908 dated 28.07.2016 vice Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal appointed as Minister. SECRETARIAT 1. Shri Devender Singh - Additional Secretary 2. Shri Vipin Kumar - Director 3. Shri Srinivasulu Gunda - Additional Director 4. Ms. Rachna Saxena - Executive Officer CHAPTER I REPORT This Report of the Committee deals with the action taken by the Government on the recommendations contained in the First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) on the subject ‘Occurrence of High Arsenic Content in Ground Water' pertaining to the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. 1.2 The First Report (Sixteenth Lok Sabha) was presented to Lok Sabha on 11.12.2014. It contained 28 observations/recommendations. Action Taken Notes on all these observations/recommendations were received from the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation on 10.08.2015. However, on scrutiny, some of the replies were found to be generic or perfunctory in nature. In respect of some there were no specific replies. Accordingly, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation were requested to furnish specific and relevant replies to the Committee. 1.3 The updated ATR to the recommendations on which the Ministry did not furnish specific replies were received on 25.04.2016. Replies to the observations and recommendations contained in the Report have broadly been categorized as under:- (i) Recommendations/Observations which have been accepted by the Government: Sl. Nos. 1,3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10,11, 12, 16, 17,18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 (Total 20) (Chapter-II) (ii) Recommendations/Observations which the Committee do not desire to pursue in view of Government’s reply: Nil (Total -Nil) (Chapter-III) (iii) Recommendations/Observations in respect of which Government’s replies have not been accepted by the Committee: Sl. Nos. 6,8,13,14,23 (Total 05) (Chapter IV) (iv) Recommendations/Observations in respect of which final reply of Government is still awaited: Sl. Nos. 2,15,&22 (Total 03) (Chapter V) 1.4 The Committee desire that response to the comments contained in Chapter I of this Report should be furnished to them expeditiously. 1.5 The Committee will now deal with the action taken by the Government on some of their recommendations. A. Need for Comprehensive and Reliable Data (Observations/Recommendation Serial No. 2) 1.6 Referring to not only the absence of comprehensive, reliable, centralized data but also the varying nature of the data on the number of districts / states affected by arsenic contamination submitted by different ministries - Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (M/o WR, RD & GR) showed that 86 Districts in 10 States have Arsenic contamination exceeding the permissible limit, the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) had, listed out only 71 Districts in 09 States having Ground Water Arsenic contamination and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) came out with yet another list of affected districts and States due to arsenic contamination of ground water and the magnitude of population exposed to arsenic contamination at 70.4 million spread across 35 districts in six states, the Committee deplored such casual attitude and emphasized that dependable, accurate and regular update of data were essential for providing perspectives with regard to public health, agriculture and other purposes. They accordingly desired that immediate steps should be taken to draw up a central data base about Arsenic affected districts/States not only for drinking water segment but also for irrigation and the data of human population, animals and crops exposed to Arsenic. 1.7 The Ministry, in their Action Taken Reply (ATR) stated that (I) M/o Consumer Affairs have informed that amendment to IS 10500:2012 has been finalized and Extra-Ordinary Gazette Notification has been sent for issuance. Thus, the process of revision of limit of Arsenic from 0.05 mg/l to 0.01 mg/l has been completed. With this modification, the existing data will undergo a major change and may include more States/ Districts/ Population affected by Arsenic. (ii) Task Force constituted by M/o Health & Family Welfare will work out modalities of doing a robust mapping of areas affected by high Arsenic content in ground water. (iii) Inter Ministerial group (IMG) has asked Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to compile data on habitations affected by Arsenic contamination of ground water for (a) 0.01 to 0.05 ppm and (b) more than 0.05 ppm. Chairman, IMG advised that all the State Governments may provide data to CGWB at the earliest (iv) The ‘Inter-Ministerial Group’ on ‘Arsenic Mitigation’ constituted vide Order dated 22nd December, 2014 has been made a Standing Group, which will (a) over-see the implementation of Action Plan of the various Ministries/Departments; (b) reconcile data; (c) guide the entire program and; (d) coordinate the efforts of all Stakeholders. 1.8 The Committee are pleased to note that pursuant to their recommendation, the process of limit of arsenic contamination from 0.05 mg/l to 0.01 mg/l has been completed and notification has been issued. However, with this modification, the existing data will undergo major change. Further, the Committee hope that the Task Force under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare would work out the modalities for meticulous mapping of arsenic affected areas so that the revised and reliable data becomes available at the earliest and the Committee apprised. B. Minimizing Use of Arsenic Rich Ground Water for Irrigation (Observations/Recommendations Serial No. 3) 1.9 The Committee in the original report, referring to the vision document of National Institute of Hydrology (NIH) and Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) , noted that investigators consider water-soil-crop-food transfer, cooking water and direct ingestion of Arsenic contaminated water as the major exposure pathways of Arsenic. As the people take contaminated water along with contaminated food, the chances of damage become greater. The domestic animals in Arsenic affected areas regularly consume Arsenic laden drinking water, fish and food. Consumption of meat from such infected animals, causes Arsenic intake. All these show the great danger of Arsenic spread and call for urgent steps to ensure proper Ground Water management to minimize use of Arsenic rich ground water for irrigation purposes. The Committee, therefore, stressed that remedial measures should be taken in this regard without loss of time. 1.10 The Ministry, in their Action Taken Reply ATR) stated