Subject:-Public Meeting Conducted by J&K SPCB at IGC Samba.

A meeting with general public from the areas adjoining the Industrial Growth
Centre (IGC) Samba was held on 21st August, 2018 at Divisional Office, SPCB Samba
under the Chairmanship of Sh. B.M. Sharma , Member Secretary, JKSPCB. The meeting
was attended by Ms Shally Ranjan, Regional Director, Jammu, Dr. Yash Pal Scientist ‘B’
Head Labs, Jammu, Sh. A.K. Gupta, AEE, JKSPCB Central Office and Sh. Angrez Singh,
Divisional Officer, SPCB Samba South along with others.

The public from Samba area and its nearby villages, such as Chak Manga, Chak Kour,
Nanak Chak, Tanda Burj, Raipur under the banner of People’s Forum for Human Values
participated actively in the meeting and raised issues with regard to pollution in the
area. They also submitted a written representation to the SPCB and some of the
prominent participants, who spoke on the issues were:-

1. Col. Karan Singh (Retd.), The President of NGO namely “People’s Forum for
Human Values’ raised the issues such as (a) discharge of untreated waste water
from the IGC into the River Basanter (b) Air emission from the industrial units (c)
Discharging of polluted water by Industrial units without ETP treatment etc, and
attributed these to the cause of various diseases in the area. He requested for
constitution of a committee comprising 3 members from Samba area and the
SPCB staff for a thorough survey and monitoring in this matter.

2. Sh. Subash Singh Sambyal (Sr. Advocate, J&K High Court), mainly stressed upon
the mitigation of pollution in the area with a collective effort of the SPCB and
allied agencies and to phase out the Drug abuse from the area. He also brought
up the issue of untreated sewage being discharged into the river and delay in
establishment of Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in the area for which
he requested to take up this important issue with the Department of Industries
and Commerce/SIDCO Samba, for immediate establishment of CETP at IGC
-Samba.

He further pointed out that the drainage of sewage waste and industrial
treated/untreated liquid waste water adjacent to cause-way near Fire Brigade/
Police Station in Phase-I, is a major nuisance as it directly intermixes with River
Basanter, the waste percolates in the soil and thus contaminates the ground
water as a result of which ground water of the nearby adjoining villages has also
been polluted. He also requested that the SPCB must strongly monitor the
 existing APCDs/ETP of the industrial units in Samba Industrial Estate in Phase I, II
and III, especially mentioning the M/s Guru Kirpa Cement, Phase - I and all the
pesticides units operated in the area.

3. Sh. Kulbhushan Kumar , raised the issue of Skin diseases and Cancer related cases
in the area due to pollution. He also emphasised that River Basanter is the life
line of the area and its water which is being used for irrigation, washing, bathing
and even for domestic purposes is getting contaminated due to untreated
discharge of industrial effluents. He also pointed out that the employment to
locals up to 90% as per State Industrial Policy has also not been implemented by
the industrial houses established in the area.

4. Sh. Inderjit Singh Slathi, spoke on Industrial emissions and for immediate
establishment of CETP. He further pointed out that SPCB should check whether
conditions as stipulated in consents issued by the Board are implemented and
fulfilled by the Industrial units or not and requested for taking stern action
against the defaulters by strict monitoring.

5. Sardar Nikka Singh, an agriculturist of the village Tanda, stressed upon the issue
of agriculture/ vegetable crop damage in the area due to pesticide and chemical
industries and requested for compensation by the Govt to all such farmers of the
area.

6. There was another group represented before the SPCB team, led by one Sh.
Gambhir Singh, claiming to be President of Labour Union, IGC, Samba. He also
requested that no industrial unit in the area should be closed as about 11000
families of the area are dependent for their livelihood on these industrial units.
He handed over a memorandum to the Member Secretary, SPCB quoting their
concern for livelihood, unemployment and requested for early establishment of
CETP for Liquid Waste Management.

After listening to their grievance and the issues raised, the Member
Secretary SPCB assured the public that suitable action shall be taken by the SPCB
in a time bound manner so that the pollution related issues pointed out are
addressed in the interest of general public and over all environment of the area.
He further assured the representative that the following actions shall be taken up
for a time bond implementation in this regard.
 a) Constitution of a scientific team for rapid assessment and appraisal of the
pollution status in IGC, Samba. The team shall monitor the status of pollution
level with respect to air/water effluents during peak/lean season involving
representatives of the NGO.

b) It has also been decided that the water quality monitoring shall be taken up
by the SPCB on fortnightly basis for one year from the designated locations on
River Basanter, instead of monitoring done on quarterly basis as per National
Water Monitoring Programme (NWMP) guidelines.

c) Immediate installation of Digital Flow Meter at requisite points of inlet and

outlet of all the Effluent Treatment Plants (ETPs) / Sewage Treatment Plants
(STPs) to be installed by all the industrial units within a period of three weeks.

d) The SPCB shall take up the issue of establishment of Common Effluent

Treatment Plant (CETP) with the department of Industries/ J&K SIDCO for
early installation of CETP at IGC Samba in a time bound manner. Further, the
Industrial unit having deficit APCDs/ETPs shall be taken to task for strict action
under the provisions of Law.

e) The SPCB shall also press upon the department of Industries / J&K SIDCO for
immediate establishment and operation of the long pending Integrated
Facility for scientific disposal of Hazardous and other Wastes etc, which is
pending for the last more than a decade.

f) Ground Water Quality monitoring in and around industrial area shall also be
taken up by the Scientists of the Board to ascertain the status of ground water
quality.

At the end, the Member Secretary SPCB issued on the spot directions to the
Regional Director, SPCB Jammu for strict monitoring of PCDs, their operation,
adequacy especially for all the pesticides and cement Industries established in
the IGC Samba.

Enclosure:-
i) Attendance sheet of participants. Member Secretary
ii) Memorandum dt. 21/08/2018 by J&K SPCB, Srinagar
President of Civil Society.
iii) Memorandum dt. 21/08/2018 by
Gambhir Singh Sambyal President Labour Cell