District Environment Plan for Latehar District, Jharkhand 2020 Drafted By: Abu, Imran, IAS Kumar Ashish, IFS Mukesh Kumar, IFS Saumitra Shukla, IFS Raushan Kumar, IFS Reviewed By: District Environment Committee, Latehar, Jharkhand For Feedback or any Complain: Please write to: Member Secretary, District Environment Committee, Latehar, Jharkhand ([email protected]) Figure 1. Convergence for Environment Management ........................................... 4 Figure 2. Typical Administrative setup at District Level ........................................ 4 Figure 3. Geographical Location of Latehar with respect to Jharkhand .................. 5 Figure 4. Map showing different blocks of Latehar along with major Drainage System ................................................................................................................... 6 Figure 5. Land Use Land Cover Map of Latehar district ........................................ 6 Figure 6. Composition of typical waste in low income category country ............... 7 Figure 7. Example data of segregation at source from few cities of India............... 8 Figure 8. Suggested Flow of Solid Waste in Urban Area ..................................... 14 Figure 9. Overview of Jharkhand performance in CWMI Performance ................ 30 Figure 10. Centralized system vs Decentralized system ....................................... 32 Figure 11. Schematic process flow diagram of DSMS ......................................... 32 Figure 12. Map showing major stone mining area ................................................ 39 Abbreviations BDO: Block Development Officer CPCB: Central Pollution Control Board CO: Circle Officer DC: Deputy Commissioner DDC: Deputy Development Commissioner DEP: District Environment Plan DFO: Divisional Forest Officer DSMS: Decentralized Sewage Management System DSP: Deputy Superintendent of Police JSPCB: Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board MoEFCC: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change MS: Member Secretary, DEC NGT: National Green Tribunal RO: Regional Officer, JSPCB SP: Superintendent of Police Preamble Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its order in O.A. No. 360 of 2018 dated 15.12.2019, directed as follows: “We find it necessary to add that in view of Constitutional provisions under Articles 243 G, 243 W, 243 ZD read with Schedules 11 and 12 and Rule 15 of the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, it is necessary to have a District Environment Plan to be operated by a District Committee (as a part of District Planning Committee under Article 243 ZD) with representatives from Panchayats, Local Bodies, Regional Officers, State PCB and a suitable officer representing the administration, which may in turn be chaired and monitored by the District Magistrate. Such District Environment Plans and Constitution of District Committee may be placed on the website of Districts concerned.” This order was re-stressed by Hon’ble NGT in O.A. No. 360/2018, order dated 26.09.2019, where Hon’ble Tribunal said, “Compliance of this direction may also be seen by the Chief Secretaries of the States/UTs. This may not only comply with mandate of law but provide an institutional mechanism for effective monitoring of environment norms” Accordingly, Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Government of Jharkhand, through notification no. 4869 dated 26.12.2019, reconstituted District Environment Committee and also gave it responsibility of drafting District Environment Plan (DEP). Government of India has enacted acts such as The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (No.6 of 1974), The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 (No.14 of 1981) and The Environment Protection Act, 1986 (No.29 of 1986) besides other acts which have implications on environment related governance. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) have notified various waste management rules under The Environment Protection Act, 1986 from time to time to manage the burgeoning issue of waste and thus prevent and control environmental damage In this regard, newly constituted District Environment Committee of Latehar District held various meetings and tried to gain 360-degree view of situation of environment management related practices in Latehar district. The committee also segregated data according to model data collection format prescribed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and tried to explore opportunities of better implementation of various acts and rules inside the district. This comprehensive document is outcome of efforts of the committee to evaluate the present scenario of environment related governance in the district at all levels be it urban or panchayat, and clearly define the present and future responsibilities of different functionaries and task forces, related to implementation of acts and rules in the district. This is also a futuristic document which lays the road map of future of environment related governance in the district. • Introduction Environment is sum total of interactions between biotic components – animals, plants, and other living organisms, and abiotic components – water, air, soil, sunlight etc. Due to increase of population, urbanisation, industrialisation & over exploitation of natural resources as well as economic activities have fallout of disturbing the environment around us. As, these activities are unavoidable, the need of the time is to manage the waste and pollutants in such a way that it affects our environment minimally. One famous quote is there:- “Environment is sufficient to full-fill everyone’s need but not sufficient to full-fill one’s greed.” Environment management plan is not only associated with management of waste and pollutants rather, it is also associated with management of our natural resources like drinking water in a sustainable manner and conserving our natural heritage like forest, ground water table which provides innumerable number of eco-system services. Thus, it becomes far more essential to have a holistic picture of scenario of environment, current status of implementation of applicable acts and rules made under them, future planning for their compliance and need of resources for the same. It is also essential that all the departments have a clear objective in their mind and are also clear about their role towards betterment of environment. This exercise would best be done at district level, and thus District Environment Plan will be effective to sustainable development of district and it’s citizen’s health. The scope of District Environment Plan is clearly laid out in Hon’ble NGT order in O.A. No. 360/2018, dated 26.09.2018, which said: “while fixing a schedule for further appearance of the Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs, direction has been issued to compile information with reference to the following specific thematic areas viz.: Compliance to Solid Waste Rules including Legacy Waste. Compliance to Bio-medical Waste Rules. Compliance to Construction & Demolition Waste. Compliance to Hazardous Waste Rules. Compliance to E-waste Rules. 351 Polluter Stretches in the country. 122 Non-attainment cities. 100 industrial clusters. Status of STPs and re-use of treated water. Status of CETPs/ETPs including performance. Ground water extraction/contamination and re-charge. Air pollution including noise pollution. Illegal sand mining. Rejuvenation of water bodies” Forest, Environment and Climate Change Department, Government of Jharkhand, through notification no. 4869 dated 26.12.2019 also included implementation of • Air Act • Water Act in the purview of the District Environment Plan. Hon’ble NGT in O.A. No. 360/2018, order dated 26.09.2019, in para 8, also said: “Such information is to be furnished to the CPCB by the Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs indicating: Current status Desirable level of compliance in terms of statutes Gap between current status and desired levels. Proposal of attending the gap with time lines. Name and designation of designated officer for ensuring compliance to provisions under statute.” The above order provides the broad contours for developing a District Environment Plan. Thus, this District Environment Plan would follow above broad guidelines in context of Latehar district. • Approach towards District Environment Plan This environment plan is drafted keeping following in mind: • It is a dynamic document. It has to be updated with changing scenario in the district. At present, the revision frequency of 2 years is advised. • It is not limited to environment management in urban areas only but also focusses on rural areas. • The prescriptions will mostly need attention by responsible parties to ensure cleaner Latehar in future but will also need budgetary support at many occasions. This can either be done by enhancing revenue sources, using present sources of tied and untied fund, or by support from state or centre government. • This document not only discusses all the applicable rules at one place but also targets that there is convergence while implementing rules. • This plan also puts responsibilities on various government functionaries as well as on heads of local bodies and expects that they try earnestly to achieve the targets. • All responsible parties are expected to report to the District Environment Committee at regular intervals the progress regarding the duties impressed upon them, or report as and when the committee asks them to report so. • Indian Scenario India faces unique challenges just because of its sheer