STPs run by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation among 39 served closure notices for Sabarmati pollution

While 22 closures were ordered by the Forests and Environment department in 2021, 17 more were ordered in 2022.

File photo of a sewage treatment plant. (Express photo by Lalit Kumar)

Listen to this article

00:00

1x 1.5x 1.8x

In the last two years, notices for “closure and other directions” have been issued to 39 entities – including sewage treatment plants (STPs) operated by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation at Pirana and Vasna – for discharging polluted water into Sabarmati river, the Gujarat Assembly was informed Monday.

While 22 closures were ordered by the Forests and Environment department in 2021, 17 more were ordered in 2022, the government stated in a written reply to a question by Congress MLA CJ Chavda. The government admitted that it has received complaints about chemical-laden effluents being released into Sabarmati, thus polluting the river.

Apart from STPs operated by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, those belonging to Gujarat Vepari Mahamandal Sahkari Audhyogik Vasahat Ltd, Narol Textile Infrastructure and Enviro Management, Odhav Enviro Project, Green Environment Service Cooperative Society Ltd, and Narol Dyestuff Enviro Society have also been served closure notices.

Story continues below this ad

Among individual entities that were served closure notices in 2022, are Krishna Dyeing and a unit of Hyderbhai Gulam Ali Miyan. In 2022, legal notices were served to Ahmedabad Mega Clean Association and Sitho Chem for river pollution. The government also issued 119 show cause notices, most of which were sent to STPs operated by the AMC at Pirana, Juna Pirana, Khanpur, and Jal Vihar, among others.

A report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in November 2022 described Sabarmati as the second-most polluted river in the country. In July 2022, Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, stated in Rajya Sabha that Rs 282.17 crore has already been spent on cleaning the Sabarmati river in Gujarat in the last three years.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram

Tags:
ahmedabad