The statement of the Union Industries Minister Prakash Javadekar that all-across India, 3,000 polluting industries have been identified and that air and water pollution of these industries will be monitored by using pollution-monitoring devices at the points of emission and discharge is a step in the right direction. It is extremely important that if India aspires to pursue a rational industrialization policy that stringent measures should be adopted to reduce to minimal levels pollution in particular strict effluent treatment plants for liquid discharge and a system of scrubbing for gaseous emissions.
Pollution norms should be very strict and every new industry being set up should draw up a road map of how effluent treatment will be taken up on a priority basis. Those chemicals that can be recycled can return back into the industrial flow chart. Mostly, it is the lackadaisical attitude of the industries which lead to pollution, many a times due to lenient pollution control norms. The focus has to be on most efficient use of fossil fuels and removing of toxic synthetic organic and inorganic chemicals from getting into the environment.
In Goa too, the Goa State Pollution Control Board should crack the whip on the big polluters by conducting surprise checks at the various large industries and the several industrial estates that are flouting pollution norms. Big industries and industrial estates are the major pollutants of the air as well as the rivers but not lagging behind is the transportation and emission of vehicles that is leading to the quality of air becoming a cause for concern.
It should become mandatory for every vehicle to undergo the pollution control test and display a prominent label of conformity as proof of having passed the test. Those vehicles that do not take the pollution control test should be penalized with substantially large fines which will act as a deterrent to others to fall in line.
Also in the various cities and towns at crucial points emission measuring devices with an alarm should be installed to alert the people of excesses due to air pollution.
