Ban on Polluting Industries

Ban – Permanent Ban on Establishment of certain Polluting Industries in
Medak, Ranga Reddy, Mahaboobnagar and Nalgonda Districts- Amendment
Notification – Orders-Issued.
ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY (ENV) DEPARTMENT
G.O. Ms. No. 64 Dated: 25-07-2013.



* * *
O R D E R:
In the G.O. 1st read above, Ban was imposed on the
establishment/expansion of certain categories of polluting industries in all the
Industrial Estates/Industrial Development Areas and other industrial areas as
mentioned in the Annexure to the notification and 1km around these
industrial areas of Medak, Rangareddy, Mahaboobnagar and Nalgonda
districts.
(2) In the representation 2nd read above, the Bulk Drug Manufacturer’s
Association (BDMA), Hyderabad requested the APPCB to allow the expansion
of existing Bulk Drug and its Intermediate Manufacturing Units with Zero
Liquid Discharge Facilities and Industries who could send less contaminated
non-process water such as domestic, cooling tower and boiler blow down to
Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) and to consider pollution load at
Point of Discharge instead of Point of Generation before installation of
pollution control systems as provided in Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
They enumerated the improvements in the technology adopted by them such
as Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) / Zero Process Liquid Discharge (ZPLD)
process comprising of latest equipment such as Stripper, Multiple Effect
Evaporator, Agitated Thin Film Drier (ATFD) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) etc,
to control water pollution through considerable reduction in High Total
Dissolved Solids (HTDS) discharges and also to bring down emission of
gaseous substances mainly Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) to control Air
Pollution.
3) The Principal Secretary to Government, Industries and Commerce
(CIP) Department offered his views on the present state of pollution control
measures implemented by Bulk Drug and Bulk Drug Intermediates industrial
units. Keeping the fact that Hyderabad attained the status as International
Capital of Pharmaceutical industry, a level playing field is a dire necessity to
maintain its leadership position without compromising on pollution control.
As there is overall improvement in water pollution control measures adopted
by the industry, a suggestion has been made to permit the increase in
production capacity to enable them to compete in the international market
and to assess the pollution load at the point of discharge.

4) In the order 3rd read above, the Hon’ble A. P. Pollution Control
Appellate Authority observed that there is much improvement in the
environmental conditions after industries implemented better pollution
treatment techniques and Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has
lifted moratorium in establishment of industries in the earlier notified
industries. Imposing ban or restrictions on the industries through
Administrative Orders is not justifiable and such ban and restrictions are
against the Statutory provisions under (Section 2, Rule 5) of Environment
(Protection) Act, 1986. The Hon’ble Appellate Authority disposed the appeals
filed by the Bulk Drug and Intermediate industries with the direction that the
State Government shall take a decision on the representation made by the
Bulk Drug Manufacturers Association in the light of the orders passed by
MoEF and the Statutory position as explained above within three months
from today.
5) In the resolution 4th read above, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control
Board in its Resolution No.1949 of 130th Board meeting resolved to
recommend to the Government, the recommendations of the High Level
Expert Committee (HLEC) constituted to study the request of Bulk Drug
Manufacturer’s Association (BDMA) to amend the G. O. Ms. No.95,
dated 21-09-2007. The Committee in their report stated that the requisite
treatment facilities are in place and Ministry of Environment and Forests
(MoEF), Government of India has withdrawn the moratorium in Patancheru –
Bollaram area after implementation of Joint Action Plan. The High Level
Expert Committee recommended to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control
Board that the expansion of capacities could be considered subject to the
availability of water resources, Ambient Air Quality including Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOC), Capacity of Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility
(TSDF) & Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP’s) and their performance
and scope for using organic waste in cement plants for co-processing.
6) In the letter 5th read above, the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control
Board communicated the Agenda with minutes of the 130th Board meeting of
Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board and the report of the High Level
Expert Committee with their recommendations from the technical point of
view. The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board recommended the
expansion of existing industries on a case to case basis in relaxation of ban
order issued vide G. O. 1st read above, based on legal advice. The
recommendations of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board is based on
four parameters namely (i) Availability of Water resources, (ii) Ambient air
quality including Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) (iii) Capacity of
Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facility (TSDF) & Common Effluent
Treatment Plant (CETP) and their performance and (iv) Scope for using
organic waste in cement plants for co-processing. The Andhra Pradesh
Pollution Control Board recommended comprehensive Zero Liquid Discharge
(ZLD) for large industries with effluent generation above 25 KLD and partial
ZLD / common ZLD for small industries with effluent generation below
25 KLD of total effluent. The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board
recommendation includes the transportation of low TDS effluent generated
by the industries to the Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs), meeting
the inlet standards stipulated by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board.
7) In the letter 6th read above, Commerce Secretary, Government of
India stated that the share in exports of Drugs and Pharmaceutical Industry
from A. P. State is about 35% of the total exports from the Country. He
recommended for expansion of existing units subject to compliance of
pollution control norms in order to give further boost to the exports from this
sector.
8) The Learned Additional Advocate General, High Court of Andhra Pradesh in his letter dated 28-03-2013 has opined that the Government may consider to amend the condition of restriction imposed on expansion of existing industries in G. O. Ms. No.95, dated 21-09-2007, so far as expansion of production of the existing units.
9) The Government, after careful examination of the matter, have decided to issue an amendment to the G. O. Ms. No.95, Environment, Forests, Science & Technology (ENV) Department, dated: 21-09-2007 to enable the expansion of production of the existing Bulk Drug and Bulk Drug Intermediates manufacturing units only subject to the installation of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) facilities by such units and to assess the Pollution load at the Point of Discharge, as provided in Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,1981.
10. Accordingly, the following notification will be published in the Extraordinary Issue of the Andhra Pradesh Gazette dated 25-07-2013:

NOTIFICATION

In exercise of the powers conferred by section 19 of the Water
(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (Central Act No.6 of 1974)
and section 19 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981
(Central Act No.14 of 1981) the Government of Andhra Pradesh on the
recommendations of the A. P. Pollution Control Board, Hyderabad hereby
makes the following amendment to the notification issued in G. O. Ms.
No.95, Environment, Forests, Science & Technology (ENV) Department,
dated: 21-09-2007.
A M E N D M E N T
In the said notification, after the existing Note, the following shall be
added namely:-
“Provided that the expansion of production of all types of existing Bulk
Drug and Bulk Drug Intermediate manufacturing units are permitted,
subject to the installation of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) facilities by
such units and subject to the outcome of cases pending in the National
Green Tribunal, Southern Zone, Chennai or in any other court. The Pollution load of industrial unit shall be assessed at the Point of Discharge, as provided in Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.”

(BY ORDER AND IN THE NAME OF THE GOVERNOR OF ANDHRA PRADESH)
M. SAMUEL SPECIAL CHIEF SECRETARY TO GOVT.