Guardian min trashes report by tehsildars on Vena pollution

Nagpur: In a major jolt to revenue department, guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule has trashed the survey of Vena river pollution conducted by tehsildars of Hingna and Nagpur Rural. The two officers had stated in their report that not a single industry was polluting the river. The minister has decided to get another survey done by other officials.
Expressing concern over pollution of Vena river, the minister had ordered a survey on January 8.He had pulled up officers of Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for turning a blind eye to the pollution of river by industries and gram panchayats. After ordering the two tehsildars to conduct a survey he had asked MPCB officials to file police complaints against the polluters.
The clean chit by revenue department contradicts MPCB’s observation, which had in September 2015, issued notices to over 60 industries located in MIDC Hingna for not treating their effluents. It is another thing that the agency did not take any stringent action against the polluters.
Hingna MIDC does not have a common effluent treatment plant (CETP). On paper, the units send their effluents by tanker to Butibori CETP for treatment. According to MIDC Hingna Industries Association president Capt Chandramohan Randheer himself, many industries were not following the procedure because of the costs involved.
Even though the river is visibly polluted, the tehsildar of Nagpur Rural Ashish Wankhede stated in his report that none of the industries in his area was polluting the river and only two villages Bori Juni Vasti and Ashta were discharging sewage into it. Hingna tehsildar Rajiv Ranvir claimed polluted water from MIDC Hingna was not being discharged into the river but the villages near the river were releasing their untreated sewage into it.
As per Wankhede’s report, spot inspection was done at 12 places and release of polluted water was found only at two places. Ranvir got spot survey done at eight places and found that Hingna, Raipur, Nildoh, Digdoh, Takalghat, Bauganeshpur, Parpari, Amgaon, Deoli, Khapri Gandhi, Khapri More and some other villages were polluting the river. Both tehsildars claimed the industries had waste water recycling units and hence were not polluting the river.
Welcoming Bawankule’s decision, environmentalist Sudhir Paliwal said a chemical analysis of the river’s water would expose the revenue department report. “The type of pollutants released by human habitations and industries are different. A survey by a third agency like Neeri should be ordered by the minister and the truth will be out,” he told TOI.
Social activist Anil Wadpalliwar demanded action against the two tehsildars for submitting misleading reports. “It is common knowledge that industries pollute Vena river. How this was not visible to the revenue officials defies logic. The minister should also take steps to clean up the Nag river, whose pollution has reached alarming levels,” he said.
What the Nagpur Rural tehsildar stated
* Bori Juni Vasti and Ashta villages were polluting the Vena river
* Calories India, AMCL, ANCL, Neco and Ruchi Soya factories were not polluting the river
* Only Ruchi Soya was using water for manufacturing
* Bori Navin Vasti, Rama, Pohi and Daheli villages were in the clear
What the Hingna tehsildar stated
* Indo Rama, Manmohan Chemicals & Minerals, Diffuse Engineering, Sunvijay Rolling and Engineering were not polluting the river
* All of them had installed waste water recycling units
* Hingna, Raipur, Nildoh, Digdoh, Takalghat, Bauganeshpur, Parpari, Amgaon, Deoli, Khapri Gandhi and Khapri More were releasing pollutants