All’s not well with the Goa Meat Complex effluent treatment plant (ETP), bringing in more trouble for the government-owned slaughter house. Despite treatment, the levels of pollutants in the treated effluents are found to be dangerously high, which in turn is causing damage to the area surrounding the complex. The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has now issued a warning to the Goa Meat Complex stating it will withdraw its Consent to Operate under Water and Air Acts, if it failed to rectify and upgrade the existing ETP within next three months. GSPCB Chairman Jose Manual Noronha said that the board during its regular inspection, held in May, observed that the ETP is not functional to its full capacity and that the level of pollution is very high. He said that with many of the important instruments not working, the ETP was not treating effluents efficiently. “The water sample collected from the site proved that the levels of pollutants in the treated effluent are dangerous,” he said. Accordingly, a hearing was conducted on Monday, wherein Goa Meat Complex has been directed to rectify the technology which was installed in 1981. “They have proposed setting up a new ETP but due to some litigation they failed to do it. We have given them three months time to upgrade the existing one, failing which their Consent to Operate would be withdrawn,” Noronha said. As per the norms, the pollution in water is measured in terms of biological oxygen demand and chemical oxygen demand (BOD and COD, respectively). While BOD is the measure of biological pathogens in the water, COD is the measure of chemical pollutants. The Goa Meat Complex is currently facing legal proceeding over illegalities in its functioning.