SMC gives green signal for Pandesara effluent plant

Civic body, industries to split project expenses in 35:65 ratio

The standing committee of the Surat Municipal Corporation on Thursday cleared the setting up of a Rs 72 crore common effluent treatment (CET) plant in Pandesara.

"The CET plant is required for treating liquid wastes of Pandesara industries. The project is estimated to cost Rs 72 crore," the committee's chairman Pravin Naik said.

The agreement for setting up the CET plant was signed by the SMC with the Pandesara Green Environment and Water Welfare Co-operative Society more than four years back.

"The central government has agreed to provide a grant of Rs 20 crore for the project under its Textile Centre Infrastructural Development Scheme (TCIDS). The state government has also agreed in-principle to provide a grant of 25 per cent of the total project cost," Naik said.

"The remaining Rs 34 crore cost for the project will be shared by the SMC and the Pandesara Society in a 35: 65 ratio. SMC would bear the cost of building the structure of the plant, while the industries would bear the maintenance cost of the plant," the standing committee chairman said.

The CET plant would be spread across around 1 lakh sq mt in Pandesara. This land is owned by SMC, and it's market value is in the region of Rs 4 crore. Interestingly, the cost of this land is not included in the project cost. So in addition to spending roughly Rs. 12 crore for the CET plant, SMC would also fulfill the land requirement for the project.

Though the path for building the CET plant in Pandesara has been cleared, it has not been free of controversy. The Congress, which is in the opposition in the SMC, is not very happy with the decision.

"Developing the CET plant is the sole responsibility of the industries. This is probably the first time in the country that a civic body has got involved in such a project and also agreed to bear part of the expenditure," a Congress councilor said.

"By agreeing to spend public money for a private project, the BJP (which controls SMC) has once again ensured benefits for the Pandesara industries. These industries pilfered water from the supply network of SMC, and caused losses of around Rs 50 crore to it. Regardless of this, the BJP has reduced the price for water supply to them by 36 per cent. Moreover, it has now agreed to bear part of the CET plant cost," he said.

The BJP has refuted the opposition charges. "The SMC has got involved in the Pandesara CET plant project only because of the directives of the Gujarat High Court, which asked the corporation to be a part of the project. It would also not be right to call the CET plant a private project, as it is in the interest of public health. We expect the work on the project to start in the near future," a ruling party member said.