Team Herald
PANJIM: In a written reply given in the Raja Sabha on Monday by the Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Rattan Lal Kataria, 11 rivers in Goa were identified in the country’s list of 323 polluted rivers.
It was stated the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in collaboration with the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) are regularly monitoring the water quality of rivers and other water bodies in the country through a network of monitoring stations.
As per CPCB’s data, the Goan Rivers of Sal, Mandovi, Talpona, Assonora, Bicholim, Chapora, Khandepar, Sinquerim, Tiracol, Valvant and Zuari are on that list.
The Ministry added that in compliance with the orders of the National Green Tribunal, the concerned States are implementing Action Plans for restoration of water quality in the identified polluted stretches of rivers in their respective States. The Ministry said that River Rejuvenation Committees (RRC) have been constituted by State Governments/Union Territories (UTs) for implementation of approved Action Plans and a Central Monitoring Committee (CMC) has been constituted at Central level to monitor progress of implementation.
The Ministry of Jal Shakti also said that cleaning and rejuvenation of rivers is a continuous process and the Central government is supplementing the efforts of the State governments and UTs in addressing the challenges of pollution of rivers by providing financial and technical assistance through schemes like National River Conservation Plan (NRCP) and Namami Gange.
It also listed steps taken by the Centre to stop discharge of industrial effluents which included directions issued to all State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/Pollution Control Committees (PCCs). It also spoke of issuance of consent to establish/consent to operate by the SPCBs/PCCs, based on Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) critically polluted areas are identified to take necessary measures through time-targeted Action Plans, regular inspections of Grossly Polluting Industries (GPIs) by CPCB for compliance verification, installation of Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring System (OCEMS) for assessment of effluent quality and compliance status.
