Flushing out Poisonous Waste !

J&K Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (SICOP) and State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) are two Public Sector undertakings (PSUs) under the control of J&K Government. These Govt owned PSUs manage around 69 industrial units across J&K. SICOP was incorporated as a company under Indian Companies Act 1956 on 28^th November 1975. This Govt owned company claims that it has authorised share capital of Rs. 100.00 crore and paid up capital of Rs. 89.91 crore. The main objective of SICOP is promotion and development of the Small Scale Industries in the State of Jammu & Kashmir. The J&K State Industrial Development Corporation -SIDCO was set up much earlier i.e., in 1969 and owns around 11 industrial estates in J&K which are located at Bari Brahmana in Jammu, Lassipora, Rangreth, Khonmoh, Ompora and other places in different districts. Most of the industrial units holders who run their small industries in different industrial estates of J&K allege that SICOP and SIDCO have failed to provide basic amenities like sanitation and waste management facilities to them. Two major industrial estates at Zainakote and Rangreth don’t even have Centralised Effluent Treatment Plants -ETPs and with the result all the toxic waste gets discharged into open fields, residential colonies and waterbodies.

Wrong information provided by SICOP

As per the official website of SICOP its 58 industrial estates are provided with modern infrastructural facilities like better road networks, water, power, drainage system and above all the Common Effluent Treatment Plants-CETPs. This is a misleading information as I have cross checked with most of its industrial units that lack all these basic facilities. The industrial estate Zainakote (HMT) Srinagar has a terrible road network and solid waste is lying scattered on its sides. The drains are overflowing with sewerage and above all the industrial waste, effluents are being pumped out which enter the residential areas in Zainakote especially the Ansari lane, Rose Avenue and adjoining areas. After I highlighted the same on social media several times this has stopped but there is no Centralized Effluent Treatment Plant-CEPT at Zainakote HMT & SICOP is misleading the people and Govt with false statements. The SICOP is a 50 year old organisation and it is an irony that no Centralized Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) could be set up which is itself a criminal act as it violates Environmental Protection Act 1986 and its rules.

Hazardous waste discharge from IE Rangreth

Constantly hazardous waste is being discharged from Industrial Estate Rangreth where there are dozens of chemical based and fruit processing industries. Lot of hazardous waste, effluents are discharged. Until 3 to 4 years back the said liquid waste used to be discharged into a wetland on Wanbal-Yayil-Humhama road. After protests by locals and a PIL having been filed by the residents of Hill View Colony Old Airfield Road Wanabal, the industrial discharge was diverted into the storm water drainage system. This illegal and criminal act was done in violation of all the environmental laws and rules especially in open violation of Environmental Protection Act 1986, Water Prevention and Control of Pollution Act 1974 and Wetland Conservation and Management Rules 2017. All this liquid hazardous waste gets drained into a flood channel that flows through Rawalpora Alamdar Colony and the toxic waste further enters Nadir Gund, Narkara and Hokersar wetlands thus putting lives of humans, animals, agriculture and migratory birds especially in danger?

PIL in J&K High Court

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court in April 2021 while hearing the Public Interest Litigation-PIL filed by Hill View Colony residents Rangreth, had asked J&K Pollution Control Committee to give time limit within which Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) is proposed to be made operational in Rangreth industrial area. Hearing the PIL a division bench of the then Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul had directed the PCB to indicate as to whether the industrial units existing in the area are being run in confirmation with the norms laid down by it.

“The grievance in this PIL is by the inhabitants of the Hill View Colony Old Air Field Road, Wanabal Rangreth Yayil, Gagoo Villages. They allege that on account of the establishment of an industrial area they are facing health hazards due to discharge of effluents from the industrial units as there is no proper arrangement for treatment of the waste and effluents,” the court said.

It seems after the industrial liquid waste drain was diverted into the storm water drainage system the residents are not following the case as the waste water no longer goes into the Yayil wetland area. But this waste is now polluting a huge area until Nadirgund, Narkara and Hokersar wetlands. Additionally the obnoxious smell emitting from this waste water is terrible and the entire Alamdar Colony Rawalpora is impacted with it.

Conclusion

If an unemployed educated young man or woman wants to set up some small industrial unit that requires Pollution Control Committee’s consent, it takes months & years but it is an irony that for the last several decades the hazardous waste from Zainakote & Rangreth Industrial Estate is not being treated scientifically and PCC has been tight-lipped? Connecting hazardous liquid waste with a storm water drainage system is another criminal act that has been committed by Govt agencies & PCC has again maintained silence? I would not hesitate to agitate this issue before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) as I have lost faith in our administration that is playing with the lives of people and J&K’s entire biodiversity.

Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow. He is a Climate Action Researcher associated with Anant National University