27 industries get closure directions for violating environmental laws in J&K

1,548 industries self-closed their operations; GoI provides Rs 51 cr to improve air quality in UT

Jammu: In Jammu and Kashmir, as many as 27 small and large industries have been issued closure orders for non-complying with environmental standards and violating air pollution-related statutes and guidelines.
In addition to this, as many as 1548 industries out of the total 7,324 closed the operations by their own, while a total of 5,776 units are still operational in the Union Territory.
According to the official sources, at-least 27 industries of Jammu and Kashmir were found non-complying with environmental standards and they have been served closure directions.
“Though no legal case has been filed and action was initiated thereafter, yet these industries are still facing closure directions for violating air pollution-related statutes and guidelines,” sources said.
Sources said that the Union Government has released an amount of Rs 51.03 crore to Jammu and Kashmir between the financial year 2019-20 to financial year 2022-23 under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) to improve air quality by engaging all stakeholders in the Union Territory.
“It is not only air pollution but the industrial sector has also affected the major rivers flowing through Jammu and Kashmir. There were a total of nine polluted river stretches in the UT during the year 2018 which, more or less, remained the same till last year mainly due to discharge of untreated or partially treated sewage from cities, towns, local bodies and industrial effluents in their respective catchments,” sources said.
Pertinently, the SPCB has issued various directions under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, etc. The SPCB carries out inspection of industries based on computer generated alerts from the Online Continuous Effluent/ Emission Monitoring System (OCEMS).
At national level, there are a total 4,89,864 industries in the country out of which, 4,40,989 units are operational and 48,875 industries are self-closed. Number of complying and non-complying units are 4,12,823 and 28,166, respectively. Show cause notice to 18,941 units and closure directions to 2,616 units were issued for non-compliance. Legal actions were taken against 158 units.

Updated On 3/28/2023 1:16:12 AM