Polluting industries won’t need dual approvals before setting up operations

Centre has done away with the requirement of permits from state authorities for heavily polluting industries (such as coal) to set up projects if they have already secured approval from Centre. The Centre said this was done to integrate approvals in an effort to “reduce the compliance burden” industries and avoid the duplication of clearances. 

Mongabay India reported that “India’s Air and Water Acts makes it mandatory for industries that are likely to release effluents and emissions to obtain permits from the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs), in the form of Consent to Establish (CTE)—obtained before the plant is set up and Consent to Operate (CTO) —obtained before the plant begins activities.” This obligates the SPCBs to conduct checks at the time of application and renewal, in order to ensure compliance with pollution norms.

Fly ash brick manufacturing (fly ash is a byproduct of coal burning) which contributes to air pollution is now exempt from state approvals. For majorly polluting industries covered by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification of 2006, project proponents can skip applying for CTE from state pollution boards but may still need to apply for CTO, the outlet said. The news portal explained that the EIA notification mandates large development projects secure environmental clearance from the central government, particularly for polluting industries like thermal power, storage of hazardous chemicals, pulp and paper manufacturing, sugar industries, and others.

To avoid duplication of approvals for these industries, the government has instead proposed issuing a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) that includes state pollution boards in the environmental clearance process. However, no such SOP has been issued by the government yet.

Thermal power plants emit 10 times more kilotonnes PM2.5 compared to stubble burning: Study

According to a new analysis, thermal power plants emit 10 times more kilotonnes of PM2.5 compared to crop residue burning, and over 200 times more kilotonnes of sulfur dioxide, another harmful pollutant. In the National Capital Region (NCR) alone, thermal power plants emit 16 times more sulphur dioxide compared to stubble burning, says the analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Mongabay India, who covered the report, explained that seasonal burning of the paddy crop residue coincides with lowering temperatures and more stagnant winds, which causes a high level of PM2.5 pollutants to gather over the Indo Gangetic Plain during the winter season. But pollution from thermal power plants is continuous, and responsible for a sizable pollution load annually.

Delhi’s green cover reduced: Centre to Parliament amid pollution concerns

Centre has informed Parliament that Delhi’s green cover has declined by 0.44 sq km between 2019 and 2021, even as India reported a rise in forest area. Also, Delhi used only 32% of funds of the ₹42.69 crore funds released by the Central government for mitigating the rising air pollution in the national capital from financial years 2021 to 2024, Parliament was told. 

Meanwhile, Yamuna in Delhi continues to suffer heavy pollution, the latest water quality report from November found fecal coliform (sewage) levels in the river concentrations peaking at 79 lakh units per 100 ml (MPN) at Asgarpur where the river exits Delhi.  Sewage contamination has a permissible limit of 2,500 units per 100 ml, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), reported the Business Standard and other news outlets. 

Delhi to pay ₹8,000 to workers hit by construction bans

The Delhi government will give financial assistance of ₹8,000 to each of the over 90,000 registered construction workers affected by the construction ban in the city due to severe air pollution,  India Today reported. Earlier the Supreme Court had directed the government to provide a subsistence allowance to construction workers impacted by the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) provisions.

According to these provisions, only workers registered as beneficiaries under the Building and Other Construction Workers (BoCW) Act, 1996, with active memberships as of November 25, 2024 (as per the Supreme Court’s order), are eligible for the allowance. Of these, 90,759 workers have self-certified that they completed 90 days of construction work in the past year, but their claims still require verification before payment, the officials said.

Kanpur tanneries: Chromium & mercury found in residents’ bodies, says new report

According to a new report, water and soil in the industrial areas of Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat and surrounding districts are full of heavy metals.  Traces of dangerous metals are being found in the bodies of many people who are fighting serious ailments, DTE reported.

The interim report on industrial pollution mainly by tanneries filed in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has said the conditions in these areas are of an ‘emergency’ nature. Medical camps should be organised immediately in the affected areas and blood and serum samples should be tested by CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, the document recommended.

Pollution may result in loss of 840 GW of solar power annually by 2050: Study

Changing weather and high pollution will reduce the efficacy of solar photovoltaics (SPV) in the future, which will result in loss of up to 840 GW of solar power by mid century, found a new study published in Environmental Research Letters. This will also impact India’s target to reduce emissions as it plans to install 100 GW of solar energy by 2030, Mongabay India reported. 

The researchers from the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi used radiation data from global climate models available under the sixth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to analyse the twin impacts of climate change and air pollution on SPV performance. The CMIP6 is a leading group of models that uses different data sets to project the future impacts of climate change under various emission scenarios.

The study, using data from 1985 to 2014 as a baseline to predict a change from 2041 to 2050, concludes that SPV’s efficacy may decrease by 3.3% by the middle of the century. Based on current solar power production levels, the study estimated a loss of 600 to 840 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity annually.

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