Water ministry urges not to extend OCMS installation deadline

The Water Resources Ministry today urged Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar not to extend the June 30 deadline for installing real-time monitoring of effluents by the polluting industries along Ganga river basin.
In a letter to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, the Union water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation ministry stated that due to the "alarming levels of industrial pollution", the deadline for the installation of Online Continuous Monitoring System (OCMS) along Ganga should not be extended any further.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had issued directions in February 2014 to the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) in the Ganga basin to instruct the Grossly Polluting industries (GPIs) and 17 other category of industries to install OCMS by March 31 this year and later extended the time limit for three months till June 30.

The CPCB has inventorised 764 GPIs discharging 501 MLD of trade effluent directly or indirectly into the drains reaching the river Ganga and its tributaries.
Of these, 687 industries are located in Uttar Pradesh followed by 42 in Uttarakhand.
According to National Mission for Clean Ganga, the 687 GPIs in Uttar Pradesh are discharging 269 MLD wastewater. Sugar, pulp, paper and chemical are the major industrial sectors, which discharged 70 per cent of total wastewater generated in the state.
Around 594 GPIs are located in the main stem of Ganga River.