Latest news with #GSPCB
Time of India
3 days ago
- General
- Time of India
Curchorem sewage treatment plant bypassed green test, shows RTI reply
Margao: A Right to Information (RTI) reply shows regulatory deficiencies in the construction of a sewage treatment plant at Curchorem, as the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) said that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was conducted before the commencement of the project. The RTI response, dated June 25, said that the GSPCB has no records of the EIA being conducted for the STP being constructed at survey No. 505, Cacora, within the jurisdiction of Curchorem Cacora Municipal Council (CCMC). Activists said that the GSPCB's statement that 'EIA report not available with the board' directly contradicts mandatory requirements under the EIA notification 2006 and an NGT judgment (application no. 124 of 2013), which mandates prior environmental clearance for STP construction. In its judgment, the NGT, referring to the guidance manual dealing with EIA clearance of effluent treatment plants, issued by the environment ministry said, 'The bare reading of the (guidance manual) shows that establishment, expansion and even modernisation of combined effluent treatment plants require environment clearance. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like She is just 10 years old! She deserves to live a normal life Donate For Health Donate Now Undo Any treatment plant that deals with such effluents having more than 10% of industrial contributions by volume has to be treated as a combined effluent treatment plant. ' Activist Aditya Dessai said that 'as the same sewage line passes through the Cacora Industrial Estate, and would also carry all types of effluents, it is plainly evident that the project requires environment clearance'. The board confirmed that while No Objection Certificates from the town and country planning department and the local municipality were issued, these clearances were granted without any environmental assessment. Water quality data before construction, public consultation records, and mangrove destruction estimates are also missing from official records, the RTI reply said. Dessai said, 'The STP's location on the Zuari bank has resulted in large-scale destruction of mangroves through filling of the riverbed within the high tide line, thereby violating provisions of Section 24(1)(b) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.' Dessai said that Rajasthan high court order of Oct 24, 2024, prohibits illegal constructions and encroachments on riverbeds, floodplains and river catchments. The court had directed state chief secretaries and the jal shakti ministry to ensure compliance with anti-encroachment measures.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
We do not have power to act on noise and can only monitor: Pollution board
Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has said at a recent meeting that it could not make the installation of electronic signboards to monitor sound decibel levels, online noise meters, and CCTV a condition to issue its consent to operate for restaurants along the coast. The board stated that this is because it does not come under the Water Act and the Air Act. The board was deliberating on directives to it from the additional collector. 'Members, after deliberations, decided to request the collector to entrust the responsibility of imposing such conditions to the authority notified under the noise rules and the notified noise action plan,' the board meeting minutes state. The board received directions from the additional collector to make these conditions part of its consent to operate. The directives came after a meeting was held at the North Goa collectorate on April 4 to discuss issues relating to the control of noise pollution, based on a PIL in the matter. The additional collector-I directed representatives from GSPCB and SDMs that while issuing consent/permission, the condition of installation of CCTV should be included in the permission. Directions were also issued to all establishments, including beach shacks, to mandatorily have CCTVs installed on their premises and that the footage should be made available to the officials of the GSPCB and police on demand. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Cervecería Nacional CFD: Calcula cuánto podrías ganar invirtiendo solo $100 Empieza a invertir Inscríbete ahora Undo The high court was informed of these measures to control noise pollution along the North Goa coast. However, board members noted that state govt recently notified the noise action plan under the noise rules, 2000, and that GSPCB is not the authority under the noise rules 2000 or the noise action plan. The members noted that GSPCB only carried out the real-time noise monitoring and the data is being transmitted on a real-time basis at police stations as well as the SDM, along with the board. 'As the police inspector and the SDM are the authorities responsible for enforcing the provision of noise rules, 2000, as well as the noise action plan, they are required to immediately act upon violations of the noise rules, that is, exceedance of noise levels and/or playing of music in the open beyond 10pm after considering the noise level data transmitted to them on a real-time basis,' the board noted.
Time of India
22-06-2025
- Time of India
Move to revise chicken shops' category shelved
Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has decided to suspend its decision to re-categorise chicken/mutton shops in Goa as 'green category' industries, following objections from several animal welfare organisations. Objecting to the re-categorising chicken/mutton shops as 'green category' industries, advocate Atish Mandrekar said that the Central Pollution Control Board categorises slaughterhouses as 'red category' industries. He said that the GSPCB based its decision on an exercise carried out by the Kerala Pollution Control Board. However, the GSPCB's decision is not in tune with the decision taken by the Kerala Pollution Control Board regarding the categorisation of such establishments, said the lawyer. Rajendra Shah from the Animal Welfare Board and Gauri Maulekhi from People for Animals were among others who also objected to the re-categorisation. 'The board, by its decision taken at its 160th meeting, has permitted the slaughter of animals and birds in the chicken/mutton shops/centres in Goa, which is in gross violation of the established law, particularly the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, as well as judgements passed by the NGT in the Gauri Maulekhi case and the Animal Rescue Squad vs. GSPCB matter,' Mandrekar said. Mandrekar said that permitting slaughtering activity in the absence of adequate pollution control measures will cause environmental and health hazards in the vicinity. He therefore sought that the GSPCB quash its decision. After hearing the submissions, and 'keeping in mind the Precautionary Principle of Environmental Jurisprudence', the board was of the opinion that it will be necessary to presently suspend the operation of the decision taken by the GSPCB for re-categorisation of chicken/mutton shops in Goa as 'green category' industries.
Time of India
21-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Soon, GIS mapping of Sal river and Ponda nullah; digital portal for environmental monitoring in state
Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), at its recent meeting, approved GIS mapping of River Sal and the Ponda nullah to identify the source of pollution in these water bodies. The board noted that it received a number of complaints about pollution in the Sal and the nullah. Besides this, the board said that a writ petition was also filed in the high court, where it was also told to find the source of pollution in these water bodies. The board has accordingly decided to invite e-tenders to carry out the work. Meanwhile, the board approved the issuance of a work order to a selected service provider through e-tendering, chosen to set up a digital portal and dashboard for an online continuous environmental data monitoring system. This dashboard will collect real-time pollution monitoring data from all industrial units in Goa. The server will be operational within six months, the GSPCB told the service provider, who will be paid Rs 85 lakh for the work. 'This portal will enable highly scalable systems that can connect more than 2,000 or all available industries/units of Goa, engaged in online monitoring with all the sites simultaneously in real-time with a non-proprietary, highly scalable back-end database suitable for storing time series data,' the board said in the minutes of its meeting. The Union ministry of electronics and information technology, under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme and the National Water Quality Monitoring Programme, requires states to carry out continuous noise monitoring, ambient air quality monitoring, effluent monitoring, and emission monitoring. All this data is to be deployed on the empanelled cloud server of the ministry and managed by a bidder under the ownership of the GSPCB. Accordingly, a work order will be issued to create a digital portal and dashboard for a continuous online monitoring system for Goa.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
State frames guidelines for ready-mix concrete plants
Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has approved, for the first time, environmental guidelines for ready-mix concrete (RMC) plants operating in the state. The major environmental issue posed by these plants is fugitive dust emission during the loading or unloading of materials, and storing, transferring, and mixing them. The guidelines state that commercial RMC plants must be 100m away from settlements, educational institutions, places of worship, archaeological monuments, national parks, reserves, and heritage sites. They state that no such plant will be permitted within the buffer zone of wildlife sanctuaries. Ready-mix concrete is manufactured in a factory or batching plant according to a set recipe, and is then delivered to a work site by truck mounted in-transit mixers. A commercial RMC plant is a concrete batching plant set up for supplying RMC to construction sites, while captive plants are dedicated to a particular project. 'There should be at least 100m distance between two RMC plants for both commercial and captive categories. This will not be applicable to RMC plants located in notified industrial plots/zones,' the guidelines state. All existing RMC plants have been warned not to expand without prior consent of the GSPCB. If such a unit applies for expansion, the board will consider it to be a new industry that will have to adhere to the recommended criteria for new RMC plants, the guidelines state. To curb air pollution, all aggregates such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone will have to be properly covered to prevent fugitive emissions during transportation. 'All containers carrying aggregates to RMC plants shall be first passed through water sprinklers to minimise dust emission during unloading in the storage area,' state the guidelines.
