MARGAO: In a move that could go a long way in addressing pollution problems, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is looking at financial support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for setting up effluent treatment plants at the industrial estates of Bethora, Cuncolim and Pilerne.
At a management review meeting on Monday, GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said there was an urgent need to set up common effluent-treatment plants (CETP) in the three industrial estates due to many complaints regarding water pollution in the areas. It was decided that Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) would float an expression of interest for setting up CETPs in those estates.
At the outset of the meeting, Member Secretary Levinson Martins informed that MoEF has invited a proposal for providing financial assistance for setting up CETPs to cater to small-scale industries in industrial estates.
GSPCB was also requested to provide data regarding water consumption and wastewater generated to facilitate preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for establishing CETP in the three industrial estates. It was further decided that the DPR would be prepared within four months and that GSPCB would submit the data within 15 days to the GIDC.
Earlier at the meeting, Martins stated that MoEF would provide financial support for establishing new CETPs in an industrial estate or cluster SSIs, and the upgradation/modernization proposal for CETPs earlier financed through the MoEF for one-time funding. However, there has to be adequate justification for the latter and the time interval between the commissioning of the existing CETP and the submission of proposal for upgradation/modernization to the Central government should not be less than seven years.
Martins added that the project cost might include the following: plant and machinery for primary, secondary and tertiary treatment; on-site laboratory with standard set of instruments; Zero Liquid Discharge and related technologies.
He further explained that for CETPs involving primary/secondary/tertiary treatment and ZLD treatment, financial assistance would be provided to the tune of 50 percent of maximum Rs 4.50 core per MLD capacity, subject to a ceiling of Central assistance of Rs 20 crore per CETP.
