CPCB team in city to monitor pollution

SURAT: A team appointed by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to monitor environment situation, particularly in the industrial areas of the city, soon after its arrival collected data and samples of ambient air quality, surface water, groundwater and pollution level from four places in Pandesara and Sachin on Thursday.
The team is from Kolkata and becomes first independent agency to be involved in categorization of critically polluted area identification process after 2009.
Regional officer, Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), Surat, M K Dasari told TOI, “This is a countrywide exercise by CPCB. This exercise would go on until February 18 in the city. Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Ankleshwar, Vapi, Bhavnagar and Junagadh in Gujarat, too, would witness this exercise.” The team members will send the samples for analysis to their office located in Kolkata. Once inspection and environmental monitoring exercise is over, a new list of critically polluted industrial areas would be declared by the central government.
Surat industrial areas have never been classified as critically polluted because it mainly houses dyeing and printing houses, textile weaving, spinning and engineering units. Sachin, Palsana and Pandesara don’t house more than seven per cent of chemical or pharmaceutical industries unlike Vapi and Ankleshwar.
There are 2,200 industrial units in Sachin industrial area, but the number of chemical units and dyeing printing mills is just 35 and 54 respectively. Sachin industrial area mostly has engineering and textile units that employ around 3 lakh people.
by via Surat News, Latest Surat News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India