NEW DELHI, AUG 20: In a major effort to rid the nation's rivers of industrial effluent discharge, the State Pollution Control Boards (PCB) have sent notices to nearly 2,000 industries which do not have adequate effluent treatment facilities, and discharge their waste directly into the rivers.``The Government is determined to close down the industries that do not set up effluent treatment plants within three months,'' said the Minister for Environment and Forests, Saifuddin Soz. The deadline expires in the first week of November.Addressing a press conference following an emergency meeting with the chairmen of the State PCBs, Soz said the move was in keeping with the promise for action made during the meeting of the National River Conservation Directorate last month which was chaired by Prime Minister I K Gujral. He warned that extension of the deadline would only be considered in rare cases, and decided on merit after examination of the industry's claim by a committee of experts. The ministry would appoint three committees which would visit the plant site for a through probe. But, he asserted that ``there is no question of extending the time indefinitely.'' Giving State figures, he said of the 2,932 industries, 820 had adequate effluent treatment plants, while it was found to be inadequate in 1976 in the probe by the PCBs.
