Govt may ban ammonia in cold storage units

TNN, Jan 25, 2011, 12.55am IST

KOLKATA: First Barrackpore, then Manicktala and now Nagerbazar. Worried by the repeated incidents of gas leak in densely populated areas, the West Bengal Pollution Control Board is considering banning the use of ammonia in cold storages.

"There are other options, already in use, which can be minimise the use of ammonia and chlorine in coolants," said a PCB official. The board is likely to issue a directive on January 27.

PCB has asked its scientists to find out if climatic conditions this winter has been the coldest in years could be one of the factors in the recurrent gas leaks.

PCB officials admit that there is no mechanism to monitor these small cold storages spread out in the outskirts. "The volume of ammonia they store is within permissible limits. We cannot book them for air or water pollution. We are monitoring the large ones situated outside the KMA limits," a PCB officer said.

All these units came up before the West Bengal Town and Country Planning Act, 1979, came into force. In 1997, the PCB took an initiative to identify hazardous industries to move them out of the city. "The government shifted the Howrah foundry units and tanneries in the Beliaghata, Tiljala and Topsia under Supreme Court directives but cold storages escaped the notice of the board because they do not regularly discharge effluents," the PCB official said.

There is another side to the story. Unlike other metros, Kolkata did not have a land map demarcating residential, industrial and mixed areas. This allowed many residential complexes to come up in erstwhile industrial areas in North 24-Parganas, Howrah and Kolkata. When KMDA put the land map in place, it could do little about the old units.

Complaints about these units poured in from residents but the government could not relocate them due to lack of space. Now, the government is considering a proposal to bring all chemical storage units under the scanner. "The PCB is preparing a list of all such units to bring them under the Factory Act," said an official.

Rs 107 crore environment plan for Bengal's Bantala SEZ

Indo-Asian News Service

Kolkata, January 18, 2011

The West Bengal government has prepared a Rs 107 crore plan to address the environment problems at Bantala special economic zone (SEZ) in the eastern part of the city, Industries and Commerce Minister Nirupam Sen said on Tuesday.

"We were apprehensive whether investors would invest in Bantala SEZ, because of the environmental hazards caused by the tanneries located nearby. We are reluctant to have it happen where red category marked leather industries are located," Sen said at a programme.

"The investors and developers have faced lot of environmental problems. Even the Cognizant authorities complained that their employees are reluctant to come here because of non-friendly environment and poor infrastructure," Sen said at the inauguration function of the second campus of Cognizant Technology at Bantala.

 

He said the state government was concerned about the problem. "We are committed to address the problem at the earliest. A plan to renovate the common effluent treatment plants (CETP) and construction of solid waste management has been prepared by the government to resolve the problem at an estimated cost of Rs 107 crore," he said.

At present there are four CETPs, which are not running with full capacity due to lack of renovation. Two more CETPs will be constructed apart from setting up a solid waste management facility.

A plot of 60 acres has been identified for the solid waste management project and a guard wall will be set up to arrest the flow of water from the tanneries. The entire project will be completed at the earliest to improve the environment at the Bantala campus.

 

Sen said the state government will appeal to the union ministry of environment and forests for providing 70 per cent of the estimated cost as grant. The minister will take up the matter with the ministry officials in Delhi. "But even if the ministry refuses to fund the project, we will initiate the project at our own cost," he said.

After the tendering process, the project has been awarded to Ramco Environmental.

The minister also emphasised that foreign and domestic investors are doing good business here despite negative publicity in the media about the industrial growth of Bengal.

"Actually the foreign and domestic companies are doing good business. All of them are either undergoing expansion plan or have expanded their capacities."

Environment in the state is one of the major issues for development of the industries, said Sen.

Now, plastic floods the Sundarbans

KOLKATA, 10th June: Post-cyclone Aila, the ecologically fragile Sundarbans in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal is facing another problem — flooding of plastic materials.

Hundreds of non-governmental organisations and private donors, who throng the area to provide relief, are dumping plastic covers, cups and wrappers in water, thus choking rivers. A world heritage site, the Sundarbans has long been declared a plastic-free zone. Yet, tonnes of plastic waste strewn around by volunteers are floating in rivers.

In the absence of government guidelines and as relief distribution has not been coordinated, enthusiastic NGOs have poured into the affected sites with food packets, drinking water sachets and even clothes wrapped in plastic covers.

“We cannot stop the NGOs from carrying on the relief work in this hour of crisis and it is also not possible to keep a check on everyone. All that we can do now is to sensitise them to the plastic menace through the media and ask them not to litter the region with plastic waste,” N.C. Bahuguna, Director of the Sundarbans Forest Reserve, told The Hindu on Monday.

Mr. Bahuguna said he was trying to take up the matter with higher authorities. As Forest department staff themselves were pressed into service to provide relief, it would take some time before any concrete result appeared, he pointed out. “Once water recedes and the situation comes under control somewhat, we will launch a massive clean-up drive.”

This would, however, take months to be completed, said a forest official. According to him, though cleaning up the peripheral areas would be easier, it was impossible to retrieve plastic waste washed into the core area by high tides and this could pose an ecological hazard for both flora and fauna on the islands of the estuarine delta.

Buddha ready to lend a hand and land to Pachauri

West Bengal to have branch of green think tank

Kolkata, Feb 20, 2009: West Bengal is all set to get a research centre dealing with climate-related issues under the guidance of Nobel laureate R K Pachauri. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) will be starting its Kolkata chapter as soon as the state government allots land for the project.

“We will be setting up an institute to look into the prospects of bio fuel, renewable energy and create more energy-efficient buildings in the state,” Dr Pachauri said. He said about five acres of land will be required for the institute.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: “West Bengal has been working closely with Dr Pachauri for a long time now. We will be happy to give them land at Baruipur to set up their institute.” The chief minister and Dr Pachauri were speaking on the sidelines of an environment summit at a city hotel on Thursday.

TERI is already working on a project on the Sunderbans delta, a fragile ecosystem now threatened by rising sea-levels. “West Bengal has a delta as well as snow capped mountains and thus, the effects of climate change here, will also be equally diverse,” said Dr Pachauri.

The study, which is partly sponsored by the West Bengal government, will take another year for completion. “We are already working in the Sunderban region and would like to extend our study to the entire state,” he added.

According to Dr Pachauri, one of the major environmental challenges in the state is that 94 per cent of Bengal’s power comes from thermal sources. “We need to form a strategy and develop alternative sources of energy for the state,” he said.

Bhattacharjee also stressed on the fact that auto emissions, drinking water, medical wastes and depletion of greenery and water bodies were the major challenges facing the state. “We need to move away from petrol and diesel — towards bio fuel and electricity-run vehicles,” he said.

Earlier, Dr Pachauri had launched a scheme for green-rating of environment-friendly buildings in the city. This rating, being introduced for residential as well as corporate buildings, would be given by the TERI in partnership with the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Green Power Corporation, the corporate entity of the West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Agency, which is headed by S.P. Gonchaudhuri.

Rs 5 crore for Subhas Sarobar revamp

KOLKATA: The state has received money to implement a green project that was long overdue. The Union ministry of tourism has just sanctioned Rs 5 crore to revamp Subhas Sarobar, the lungs of east Kolkata. The lake, an eyesore for years, is all set to turn into a beautiful landscape in the next 20 months.

After lobbying for nearly two years with the Union ministry of urban development, the state government highlighted the rejuvenation of Subhas Sarobar as a key tourism project while seeking funds from the Union ministry of tourism (MoT). Result? MoT has now sanctioned Rs 4.91 crore to rejuvenate the lake, which has been included in the National Lake Conservation Programme, but has been crying for attention all these years.

The waterbody has been suffering, thanks to everyday bathing, washing and cleaning by slum-dwellers. Well a sea change is about to take place. And a visit to the sprawling sarovar (41.61 acres of waterbody and 49.99 acres of land) will transport you to lush green grounds dotted with a children's park, rockery, French shelters, joggers' track and other related landscaping accessories. The water will also be treated in a scientific manner. The area around the shimmering water will be lit up in the most fascinating manner to create a romantic ambience after dusk. A lot of recreational activity will take place, especially in the amphitheatre, the water sports complex and food courts. Security will be a key issue: the complex will be closely guarded and visitors monitored through electronic gates.

The sarobar is currently used haphazardly by swimming and other clubs the inner pathways originally meant for morning-walkers are now used for traffic movement between Narkeldanga Main Road and CIT Road-Beliaghata Main Road.

"We just cannot allow this prime waterbody in a crowded city area remain an eyesore forever. So, we decided to send a comprehensive project report, prepared from the original KIT plan, to the ministry. And, we developed it as per the Centre's guidelines to attract funds," said TVN Rao, director of the West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation and the concept creator.

The rejuvenation plan also provides for a proper solid waste management and underground stormwater drainage systems. "Currently, there is a huge dump yard in the sarobar premises. We will remove it and implement a scientific solid waste management," said Biswanath Sen, chief engineer-in-charge of KIT, the implementing agency. But since the project has been prepared by West Bengal Tourism Development Corporation, a must-do is a tourism facilitation centre to highlight the other tourism destinations around the sarobar. These stop-overs include Science City, Milan Mela, Nalban, Nicco Park and Salt Lake stadium.