Days after Gangotri residents protested against its establishment, the Uttarakhand’s State Pollution Control Board has ordered the closure of an incinerator set up by the state tourism department in the eco-sensitive zone.
The unit was found to have violated the provisions under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, and for operating in the Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone without obtaining a consent to operate. It was also found that it had no proper monitoring facilities, a logbook of operations, or a disposal of waste generated from the process, said the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Body.
The residents, part of the collective Himalayi Nagarik Drishti Manch, had written to authorities, stating that the incinerator was burning mixed solid waste disposed of in the area, causing emissions.
Such units are required to obtain a Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate certificate from the State Pollution Control Board, and they are mandated to keep their effluent quality within the specified norms as specified under the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986. The Gangotri unit processes one tonne of solid waste every day.
Moreover, the unit was set up in the Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone, an area in which every activity is monitored and regulated by a committee under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary of the state. The incinerator was permitted by the committee last year and was set up by the Ministry of Tourism under the PRASAD Scheme (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive).
Officials from the state and Central Pollution Control Body visited the facility on June 24 and found that the Uttarkashi District Tourism Development Officer had not obtained a Consolidated Consent and Authorisation (CCA) under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and authorisation under the Hazardous and other wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016. Though the unit representative said that it processes one tonne of solid waste every day, they could not provide a logbook record. Similarly, the unit representative said the ash generation is negligible and it is kept on the premises, but there was no record of the ash generation, the pollution control body said. The unit also did not maintain records for plastic waste collection.
The pollution control bodies also recommended that the facility obtain necessary permissions, including a Consent to Operate from the UKPCB.
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Following a letter from residents of Uttarkashi to authorities regarding the operation of the unit at Bhagirathi Eco Sensitive Zone, the Uttarkashi DM had said that the unit is a zero-emission system with a solar-powered furnace and operates through a programmed oxygenation plasma technology. He also said that the waste is processed without any combustion or involvement of water or other moving parts. However, according to CPCB guidelines, incinerators have a pollution index of 100 and fall under the red category.
