Firms may face pollution cess

Industries spewing fumes in the air and pumping toxic effluents into rivers must pay a fixed amount for their environmental vandalism. Such a proposal, which is likely to become a law soon, has come from a Parliamentary committee, after a study of Orissa8217;s highly-polluted Bramhani river system.

The report of the Rajya Sabha8217;s Committee of Petitions was placed in the House in the just concluded session. The 121st report of the committee says, 8216;8216;The Ministry of Environment and Forests should examine the feasibility of making it mandatory for the industries to earmark either 1 per cent of their total turnover or 5 per cent of their profits, whichever is more, for pollution control measures and for providing basic civic amenities in the areas surrounding the industries.8217;8217;

The government has to send a 8216;compliance report8217; to the Parliament in this session. Mostly the government enacts legislations on the basis of Parliamentary committee recommendations.

The committee8217;s recommendations came after the MPs from Rajya Sabha on the committee had studied the Bramhani after receiving a petition from Bidhudhenra Pratap Das, president, Brahmani Anchal Suraksha Parishad.

The MPs visited the areas early this year and found that polluters were mostly the government owned industries like the NTPC , NALCO and the Rourkela Steel Plant.