Taking cognisance of Vapi in Valsad district in south Gujarat being named in the recently released Blacksmith Institute Pollution Report as one among the world’s top ten polluted places, the Valsad Collector has cracked down on industries in the region. The report stated that high levels of mercury in the groundwater and effluents from industries in the Vapi Industrial Estate being discharged into the Damanganga River were what elevated Vapi to the infamous list. The Blacksmith Institute also names nine other sites in Gujarat, and 65 in India, that are critically polluted, including Ankleshwar and Vadodara. Located at the southern end of the Gujarat chemical belt known as the Golden Corridor, Vapi has 1,402 industries, of which chemicals, dyes, pharmaceuticals, paints and plastic make up the majority along with several engineering, glass and paper industries. The Golden Corridor is made up of the Ankleshwar industrial area and the Nandesari Industrial Estate, which have also come under the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) scanner several times in the past. It was only recently that the Valsad Collector, Dinesh Brahmbhatt threatened to close down an industry in Gandlav village after the residents complained of pollution problems. Taking serious note of the Blacksmith report, Brahmbhatt stated that he was already engaged in talks with the Vapi Industrial Association (VIA) for ways and means of bringing the pollution under control. “Pollution is a very serious issue as many stand to lose from it. I have warned them to take measures and said that pollution will be dealt with severely,” said Brahmbhatt. According to the Blacksmith report, several hazardous compounds such as heavy metals, cyanides, pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls were discharged as waste by the industries.According to sources in the CPCB, the main problem Vapi faced was that the industries’ Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETP) do not comply with CPCB or GPCB norms.
