Industrialists planning to start polluting units in four districts of the State are unable to get the Consent to Establish (CTE) from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) as the government is not willing to relax norms.

According to TNPCB sources, the board has not taken any decision on the demand from industrialists to set up new units, including dyeing and fabric units, in Karur, Tirupur, Erode and Namakkal towns where water pollution has been a problem for a decade and more.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it cannot be swayed by emotions or public protests in directing closure of polluting industries but have to go strictly by law in deciding demands for closing down Sterlite Industries in Tamil Nadu’s Tuticorin district.

A bench of justices A K Patnaik and H L Gokhale wondered whether courts can intervene and direct closure even after the authorities like the pollution control board had granted the clearance.

Complaints of overexploitation of groundwater

The Assembly Committee on Environment, which visited the bottling plant of PepsiCo at Kanjikode on Tuesday, directed the Groundwater Department to monitor and restrict strictly the use of groundwater by the company. The committee, on complaints from various organisations that the soft-drink giant was overexploiting groundwater, asked the department to examine if the company was tapping groundwater in excess of the permitted quantity. The complaints said the overexploitation was lowering the water table, affecting the drinking water sources of the local people.

It’s back to square one in the mission to get rid of toxic waste from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, with German agency GIZ backing out of a proposal to airlift 350 tonnes of waste to Europe for safe disposal.

After three months of extensive contract negotiations with the Indian government, the firm has said: “Hazardous waste disposal through GIZ is no longer an option.” In a statement on why the contract did not materialise, GIZ said “uncertainties [which] extended to the German public” had grown during the months of struggling to close the deal.

Protests in Germany have ensured that the refuse cannot be taken to Europe either

It’s back to square one in the mission to get rid of toxic waste from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, with German agency GIZ backing out of a proposal to airlift 350 tonnes of waste to Europe for safe disposal. After three months of extensive contract negotiations with the Indian government, the firm on Monday said: “Hazardous waste disposal through GIZ is no longer an option.” In a statement on why the contract did not materialise, GIZ said “uncertainties [which] extended to the German public” had grown during the months of struggling to close the deal.

In a blow to both the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government's efforts, a German firm has refused to dispose of 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the Bhopal gas disaster site to Germany citing "uncertainties" on both the sides. A Group of Ministers (GoM) in June had approved the proposal for disposing of 350 metric tonnes of packaged chemical waste, resulting from Bhopal gas disaster of December 1984, by German agency GIZ for a payment of Rs 25 crore.

However, there was no agreement signed between the government and GIZ for removal of the waste.

The survivors of Bhopal gas tragedy have termed the decision of German International Cooperation (GIZ) to backtrack from the project to incinerate over 350 tonnes of toxic waste from the Union Carb

Gujarat Ecology Commission’s Survey Of 19 Coastal Spots Rings Alarm

Gandhinagar: Coastal tourism in Gujarat is proving to be a non-starter. More than the economic downturn, the main reason for this is the gross mismanagement of numerous beaches dotting the state’s huge coastline of 1,600 km. Experts who carried out a recent study of 19 major beaches along the state’s coastline have taken strong exception to complete mismanagement on the part of authorities towards the development of coastal tourism. The study is featured in a book which was released recently by the Gujarat Ecology Commission (GEC).

VASCO: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) on Thursday issued a show-cause notice to Ganesh Benzoplast Ltd in connection with the sulphuric acid spillage at the port on Wednesday.

Speaking to Herald, GSPCB Member Secretary Levinson Martins said the Board has issued a show-cause notice demanding to know why consent should not be withdrawn to the company to store sulphuric acid and other liquid materials at its tanks in Sada Bogda.