A few days old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has set an example by announcing that they will set up medium or small scale industries in Delhi, so employment can be generated for youth. And for this, a No Objection Certificate (NoC) will not be required from the Pollution Control Board. The requirement of the No Objection Certificate was neither helping environment nor the business. In the current situation, while green laws are being continuously “violated”, yet traders are being “deterred” from doing their businesses. Environment Board is nothing but a highly corrupt department. You can get any environmental clearance by paying them bribe without inspection; money is the only matter to seek such certificate. In most of the cases, officials indulge in corruption. They have the power to take action against the wrong practice. However, they take a lenient or casual action on the violation after receiving bribe from the violator. They also grant benefits to those who don’t deserve it and take share from them. This benefit can be awarded as a contract, a job or an illegal permit to do any business. In short, every malpractice against the rule of business of the authority is called corruption. Bribe or graft can be money or any gift or other benefits.
Kejriwal’s government came under attack from environmental watchdogs and other rivals. However, these people never raised this issue, when small scale industries were running on bribed certificates. No one investigated the facts then. AAP government clearly specified that the rule, however, will apply only to industries that fall in the green or orange or yellow zone – which are considered non-polluted or have negligible pollution. Industries are essentially divided into three categories depending on their pollution level. The red zone is a banned zone – under which to set up an industry, a parliamentary clearance is required. The green zone comprises non-polluting industries, like bakeries, carpentry, hand looms etc. The orange zone includes units like drugs, electroplating, soaps, dying cloths and tobacco, which release some amounts of effluents, for which treatment plants are mandatory.
No doubt, the toxic air has led to a sharp rise in respiratory diseases particularly among young children and senior citizens. Delhi is already the most polluted city in the world. During the winter months this year, the Particulate Matter 2.5, which is the most harmful emission, has been over 200. To control industrial pollution, industries need to keep their emissions within a given limit and release their effluent after treatment, and government should have proper check on such things. They need to dispose of their waste at designated places with environmentally safe methods. For this purpose, they need to hire an environment manager. That manager’s job is to make an environmental management plan of the factory. He should ensure its full compliance during and after every productive activity of the factory. Green regulator needs to visit the factory on regular basis. It should check if it is fully implementing its environmental management plan. If any violation is found with regard to pollution control, regulator should take action against the violating factory. No one will resist this process because people are showing ‘honesty’ with the environment. This is an ideal situation which never happens in any country. Yes, in most of the advanced nations, green regulators are fully performing their jobs to control industrial pollution. Factories are also aware that if they violate green laws, they have to pay a fine and face imprisonment. That’s why, they implement their environmental management plan and avoid polluting the environment. Ultimately, they earn the image of being green and use it to boost their marketing campaigns. People buy their products more and their businesses grow. They are the smart business people. Today, they are prosperous and happy.
The most corrupt are stubbornly corrupt and moving ahead with this white-collar crime. The least corrupt are stagnant in their position while moderately corrupt move up and down depending upon the type of leaders they get in tenure. It is quite easy to control industrial pollution, if green officials are honest with their job. If our leaders and factory owners think about green zone, they are being environment friendly. Everywhere green awareness is on the rise. If this awareness continues then few years later these corrupt officials will not find any escape. Consumers will refuse to buy any product of the company which violates green norms. However, there are factories whose owners have no future vision for green environment. That’s why they have blindfolded themselves and are just running after short-term benefits. In such circumstances, Government needs to identify the highly polluted factories and non-polluted factories. Kejriwal’s government needs to appoint an authority or a surveyor to keep check on these industries.
