Question raised in Lok Sabha on Pollution by Cement Industries, 11/08/2015
Question raised in Lok Sabha on Pollution by Cement Industries, 11/08/2015. The cement industries have been categorized as highly polluting industries by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The main pollutants emitted from cement industries include Particulate Matter, SulphurDioxide (SO2)and Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2). To prevent and control pollution from cement industries,CPCB conducts surprise inspection of cement industries under its Environmental Surveillance Squad programme to assess the compliance status with respect to the prescribed emission/effluent norms. Directions under Section 5 of the Environment (Protection) Act (EPA), 1986 are issued to the non-compliant industries and under section 18(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) to direct industries to comply with the stipulated norms. Further, the cement industries have also been directed to install on-line continuous (24x7) monitoring devices for better monitoring of compliance by CPCB and SPCBs. The State-wise list of non-compliant industries including those in Gujarat is given at Annexure-I. In August, 2014 Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified revised emission norms for Particulate Matter and also introduced emission norms for SO2 and NO2 for cement industry as per Annexure-II.