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In the financial year 2021-22, 527,131.57 tonnes of e-waste was collected, dismantled and recycled, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state in the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change told the Rajya Sabha
The central government on October 27, 2022 gave an in-principal approval for diversion of 130.75 sq km forest land for sustainable development in Great Nicobar Island, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.
The area proposed for development is only approximately 1.5 per cent of total area of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Further, more than 50 per cent (65.99 square kilometres) of the area proposed for diversion will be the area for green development where no tree felling is envisaged.
Moreover, it is expected that about 15 per cent of the development area will remain as green and open spaces and the tree felling is proposed to be done in a phased manner, the minister said.
A total financial allocation of Rs 1,41,678 crores over a period of 5 years from 2021-2026 has been made under Urban Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, with a focus on source segregation of garbage, reduction in single-use plastic, reduction in air pollution by effectively managing waste from construction-and-demolition activities and bio-remediation of all legacy waste dump sites, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.
Under Swachh Bharat Mission – Grameen Phase II, department of drinking water and sanitation has issued operational guidelines to the states and Union territories, which include solid waste management activities at the village level, he said.
There are a total 4,602 units under 17 categories of high pollution potential industries in the country, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha. Regulatory agencies continuously monitor and regulate the industries for the pollution generated by them and compliance of environmental rules/regulations, he said.
The agencies found a total 2,831 grossly polluting industries in the country. Of these, 2,353 industries are operational and 478 are self-closed. Regulatory agencies have found 148 industrial units as non-complying and show-cause notices have been issued against 74 units and closure directions have been issued against 55 units. Legal actions were initiated against 8 units and action is under process against 11 units, the minister said.
An area of 97.85 million hectares of the total geographic area in India is degrading, showed the 2018-2019 mapping of degraded lands by the Space Applications Centre of the Indian Space Research Organisation, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.
The National River Conservation Plan (NRCP), launched to tackle pollution in rivers, has so far covered polluted stretches of 38 rivers in 82 towns spread over 16 states at a total sanctioned cost of Rs. 8241.32 crore, Bishweswar Tudu, minister of state for Union ministry of Jal Shakti told the Lok Sabha.
Some of the rivers where pollution levels have been tackled are Rani Chu in Sikkim, Nambul in Imphal, Manipur; Devika and Tawi in Udhampur, Jammu; Dhiphu and Dhansiri, Nagaland and Pamba in Kerala.
Pollution abatement works have been taken up at a cost of Rs 990.26 crore in Mula Mutha river, which flows by Pune and is a tributary of Bheema river and Rs 1926.99 crore is being spent to clean up Nag River which flows by Nagpur and is a tributary of Kanhan river, the minister said.
As per the information received from states / Union territories (UTs), 35 states/ UTs have adopted rainwater harvesting in their respective building bye laws as suggested by Model Building Bye-Laws (MBBL), 2016, Kaushal Kishore, minister of state in the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs told the Lok Sabha.
Under Namami Gange Programme, a total of 195 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up in the Ganga basin at a cost of Rs 31,344.13 crore for creation and rehabilitation of 6,173.12 Million Litres per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity.
At present, 109 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in already creation & rehabilitation of 2,664.05 MLD of STP capacity. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) targets sanctioning a cumulative treatment capacity of 7,000 MLD by December 2026, Bishweswar Tudu, Minister of State for Jal Shakti told the Lok Sabha.
Till May 11, 2023 from July 7, 2022, 52,644.003 million litres per day of sewage was generated in the country, showed the the information provided by all 36 States/ Union territories (UTs) to the National Green Tribunal, Kaushal Kishore, minister of state in the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs told the Lok Sabha.