Pollution will cost you big money

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Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsThere is a flicker of hope for Noor Mohammed Kunta, one the most polluted lakes in the city, with the State government finally submitting a rescue proposal to the World Bank and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. With the ‘environment impact assessment’, a preliminary report, chances are that if the mavens up above accept the proposal, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) will be flush with funds to clean up the lake.Recipient of effluents from the leather industries in Kattedan, Noor Mohammed Kunta is also rather incongruously called the Pink Lake. Hundreds of industries in the Kattedan Industrial Estate disgorge their darkest outputs into the lake, once a fresh water lake. Pressed to do something about the loss of this lake, the authorities have done an impact assessment study, which if found feasible, may finally lead to some real action on resuscitating the water body.The Pink Lake is the first and only lake in the country to have been identified for remediation by the World Bank-assisted project on 'Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management' by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2010. Over Rs 250 crore was sanctioned by the World Bank for restoring the lake that is spread over about five acres. The authorities have already relocated some of the polluting industries out of the estate and diverted some of the polluting inlets.When contacted, Dr K V Ramani, joint chief environmental scientist, APPCB, confirmed submission of the report and said, "We have recently submitted the report to the Ministry and the World Bank, and are awaiting reviews and suggestions from them.” She hesitated to give away contents of the report. “Once we get the feedback, we will put it on our website,” she added.What experts say?Dr Jasveen Jairath of Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), one of the members of the group which conducted the study, opined that the reason for such a state of the lake was lack of basic infrastructure. “Untreated industrial waste is being discharged into the lake for years and there is no mechanism to treat effluents and hazardous waste from the Kattedan Industrial Estate (KIE). Unless one develops the infrastructure at KIE and installs industrial and solid waste treatment plants, there is no point in investing on the restoration of the lake, which is a highly expensive affair,” she pointed out.Similary, Karunakaran of Sukuki Exnora, another agency that studied the lake, said, “major industries have already been shifted a few years ago. But now it is the drainage from small scale industries and households that is polluting the lake. Even the sewage treatment plant installed here is not efficient.”Why should you bear the burden?According to WG Prasanna Kumar, a social scientist and spokesperson, APPCB, the government will have to repay the World Bank with the taxpayer’s money which makes lake restoration a really expensive affair. “Making the public pay for restoration activities is unfair. The best thing we can do is preserve them and not let industries pollute them. Industries should be made to realise that one day they will have to pay for restoration of all the lakes they destroy,” he said.However, it’s not all rosy for the pink lake. Several stakeholders have to come together to save the lake. These are a fractious lot: Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and the Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) etc. Much effluents will have merged into Noor Mohammed Kunta before something concrete is done.first published:August 20, 2012, 08:39 ISTlast updated:August 20, 2012, 08:39 IST
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There is a flicker of hope for Noor Mohammed Kunta, one the most polluted lakes in the city, with the State government finally submitting a rescue proposal to the World Bank and the Ministry of Environment and Forests. With the ‘environment impact assessment’, a preliminary report, chances are that if the mavens up above accept the proposal, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) will be flush with funds to clean up the lake.

Recipient of effluents from the leather industries in Kattedan, Noor Mohammed Kunta is also rather incongruously called the Pink Lake. Hundreds of industries in the Kattedan Industrial Estate disgorge their darkest outputs into the lake, once a fresh water lake. Pressed to do something about the loss of this lake, the authorities have done an impact assessment study, which if found feasible, may finally lead to some real action on resuscitating the water body.

The Pink Lake is the first and only lake in the country to have been identified for remediation by the World Bank-assisted project on 'Capacity Building for Industrial Pollution Management' by the Ministry of Environment and Forests and approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in 2010. Over Rs 250 crore was sanctioned by the World Bank for restoring the lake that is spread over about five acres. The authorities have already relocated some of the polluting industries out of the estate and diverted some of the polluting inlets.

When contacted, Dr K V Ramani, joint chief environmental scientist, APPCB, confirmed submission of the report and said, "We have recently submitted the report to the Ministry and the World Bank, and are awaiting reviews and suggestions from them.” She hesitated to give away contents of the report. “Once we get the feedback, we will put it on our website,” she added.

What experts say?

Dr Jasveen Jairath of Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), one of the members of the group which conducted the study, opined that the reason for such a state of the lake was lack of basic infrastructure. “Untreated industrial waste is being discharged into the lake for years and there is no mechanism to treat effluents and hazardous waste from the Kattedan Industrial Estate (KIE). Unless one develops the infrastructure at KIE and installs industrial and solid waste treatment plants, there is no point in investing on the restoration of the lake, which is a highly expensive affair,” she pointed out.

Similary, Karunakaran of Sukuki Exnora, another agency that studied the lake, said, “major industries have already been shifted a few years ago. But now it is the drainage from small scale industries and households that is polluting the lake. Even the sewage treatment plant installed here is not efficient.”

Why should you bear the burden?

According to WG Prasanna Kumar, a social scientist and spokesperson, APPCB, the government will have to repay the World Bank with the taxpayer’s money which makes lake restoration a really expensive affair. “Making the public pay for restoration activities is unfair. The best thing we can do is preserve them and not let industries pollute them. Industries should be made to realise that one day they will have to pay for restoration of all the lakes they destroy,” he said.

However, it’s not all rosy for the pink lake. Several stakeholders have to come together to save the lake. These are a fractious lot: Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA), Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), AP Pollution Control Board (APPCB), Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and the Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) etc. Much effluents will have merged into Noor Mohammed Kunta before something concrete is done.