Red category industries mushrooming in Nellore dist
Highlights
Nellore district is getting gradually flooded with red category industries that pose health hazards to people. The mushrooming industrial organisations have not been considering woes of people around the units and this has turned out to be a major difficulty for people in the vicinity.
- There are 100 red category industries and 200 orange category industries
- Tens of thermal power plants being set up in coastal area
- Some villagers in coastal areas have started vacating the habitations to protect themselves from pollution hazards
Nellore: Nellore district is getting gradually flooded with red category industries that pose health hazards to people. The mushrooming industrial organisations have not been considering woes of people around the units and this has turned out to be a major difficulty for people in the vicinity.
This has been rampant in coastal areas in the district where huge number of red category industries were concentrated. According to data of AP Pollution Control Board, there are around 100 red category units and more than 200 industries under orange category that have been producing moderate pollution.
In fact, red category represents highly polluting industries and orange represents moderately polluting ones, according to guidelines of the Ministry of Environment. The Ministry currently classified industrial organisations into three categories in decreasing order of severity of pollution — red, orange and green.
Introduced in 1989, this system was aimed to locate industries with pollution potential (same category) at one place. But, incidentally, there has been no uniform classification throughout the country and the Central Pollution Control Board has tried its best to categorise the industries in the three categories.
In Nellore district, industries such as synthetic detergent and soap, tyre and tube vulcanisation, retreading and moulding, synthetic rubber, pesticides, chemical industries, castings, pharmaceuticals, milk processing and dairy products, cane sugar casting, industrial carbons, etc are under red category. But, major difficulty comes with the thermal power plants. Mining locations have also been giving nightmarish experience to the people with high pollution.
Tens of thermal power units are being established on the coast and they would produce unbearable pollution in the coming years leading to increased levels of temperatures and other toxic effluents. Second category moderate polluting industries like aquaculture, manufacturing of shrimp feed, pulp & paper and hatcheries are rampant in rural areas. Rice mills are also spread in majority mandals that directly produce bad odour and lethal releases.
Keeping in view of the old pattern of categorisation, the Environment Ministry is of the view that the system does not take into account ‘sector-specific’ plans for controlling pollution and instead classified industries and industrial activities on the basis of size, manpower and consumption of resources.
Pollution parameters and their impact on health are not considered in this classification. Consequently, the Ministry has recently proposed that no red-category industry will be permitted to set up units in urban, eco-sensitive and protected areas of all regions.
By:p v prasad
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