ONGC served second closure notice
gujarat Pollution Control Board (gpcb) served a second closure notice on August 10, 2005, to the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ongc) unit at Piludra, Ankleshwar -- which manufactures crude oil, lpg and Naphtha-- for discharging untreated effluents into the river Narmada. The government-run ongc was served a similar notice in June 2004. But clearly, it had not mended its ways.
ongc claims that the Narmada creek is the final disposal point for the effluents. However, an inspection by the Central Pollution Control Board (cpcb) revealed that the Piludra unit's dilapidated pipeline for effluent discharge joins the rivulet Amlakhadi, and eventually meets an estuary of the river Narmada.
In June 2004, the gpcb had issued directions to ongc under section 33-A of the Water Act, 1974. In reply ongc assured them of improving the situation at the earliest. Following this, cpcb sent a two-member team, of scientist D Brahma and environmental engineer Prasoon Garg. Their report combined with the cpcb report concluded that the effluent treatment plants (etp) of ongc complex were inadequate, the disposal point problematic and effluent standards inadequate.
But this report was made public only recently, after much pressure from activists and the media. Local farmers also complained that effluents from the ramshackled pipeline spoils their land. But S C Upadhyay, ongc's asset manager, says, "We are working with gpcb to sort out the issue."
ongc laid new pipelines last year, creating more problems. It changed the routes of these pipelines, violating several environmental norms. After local outcry, gpcb ordered the work to be stopped. cpcb' s report recommended that the four and a half km stretch of the new pipeline which the ongc had made could be further extended to the estuary zone and then to the sea. This would involve considerable cost and time, so ongc was directed to join the pipeline of the new command disposal line of baeil (Bharuch Aqua-Environment Ltd) and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (0gidc), Ankleshwar, for the time being.
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