Environment ban reimposed on polluted Vapi

 The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Tuesday re-imposed the ban on any permission to any new or expansion of project that is to come up in Vapi.

A

    AHMEDABAD: Vapi and the industrial estate in its vicinity have once again made it to the list of the most polluted place in the country. The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) on Tuesday re-imposed the ban on any permission to any new or expansion of project that is to come up in Vapi.

"Even after two and half years of implementation of action plan there is no improvement in the environmental quality of Vapi," claims the latest notification of ministry of environment and forests.

This industrial estate in south Gujarat in Valsad district has been rated by the Union ministry as being "critically polluted" after it found the quality of air, water, land and ground water not meeting 'desired' standards.

What is significant is that the MoEF had lifted the ban on the industrial town on October 26, 2011, after the Vapi industrial zone and the Gujarat pollution control board (GPCB) assured the MoEF that it would implement its action plan to improve environment quality of the town, claims the notification.

The ban or moratorium on industrial expansion was imposed by MoEF back in 2010 based on the Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI) — a score sheet on pollution developed by IIT-Delhi and central pollution control board (CPCB).

CEPI scores of 70 and above were considered as critically polluted industrial clusters, whereas the areas having CEPI between 60-70 were considered as severely polluted areas and shall be kept under surveillance.

Vapi was found to be 88.09 in year 2010, while the latest CEPI index score this year showed that Vapi still topped the pollution charts with a score of 85.31. This meant that pollutant concentration and impact on human health and level of exposure of humans to the pollution was very high.

Along with Vapi town on the latest pollution list are Singraulli, Ghaziabad, Panipat, Indore, Ludhiana, Jharsuguda, Patancheru-Bollaram.