209 MIDC units to benefit directly

NAGPUR:The state environment department's move to relax river regulation zone (RRZ) norms for Nag River stretch passing through MIDC Hingna will directly benefit 209 units. The relaxation allows existing units to expand their plants as the rule of keeping 500 metres away from the river will not apply.
MIDC Industries Association (MIA) had been lobbying hard for removal of RRZ restriction for its units on the grounds that the industrial estate had come into existence even before the norms were laid.It contended that it would be improper to bar the existing units from expanding within the plots allotted to them.
However, even as the MIA stressed that several industries along the Nag River were keen to expand, it did not have any specific figures of units that will now get immediate advantage.
Mayank Shukla, former president of MIA, told TOI that the association does not have any information on the number of industries planning an immediate expansion. However, there are hardly any industries among the 209 which may create water pollution. Though there are some units which discharge air polluting waste, a majority of them in the zone are engaged in metal casting and engineering activities, said Shukla.
Captain CM Randhir said even the industries are committed to conservation of the river. Even as RRZ norms have been relaxed, industrial units will have to still follow the norms laid down by Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). The MIA will ensure that its members do not flout rules. Shukla added that the industries now look forward to the MPCB for the conservation norms.
Relaxation or not, effluent disposal remains to be a hassle for MIDC's Hingna estate. Shukla said since three years MIA has been awaiting an environmental clearance for setting up a common effluent treatment plant (CETP). Currently, the liquid waste is transported to the Butibori Industrial estate which has a CETP.
Shukla said initially the clearance took time as a number of other applications were pending with the state's ministry of environment and forests. Later, when it was requested to take up on priority basis a year ago, the appraisal committee itself was dissolved. The latest rules call for holding a public hearing for setting up the CETP, which is a long-drawn process.
He claimed that the Rs12 crore CETP planned at Hingna will do away with the requirement of discharging the water. The treated water will be reused in industries.