CECB

FLY ASH MANDATORY IN CONSTRUCTION WORKS NEAR POWER PLANT

Now the use of fly ash in all types of building construction work has been made compulsory within 100 kms radius of the power plants.

Lately a new circular is issued by the Forest and Environment Ministry of the Central Government to ensure the maximum use of fly ash produced from all the power plants in all construction work within 100 kms. Use of at least 25% fly ash has been made compulsory.

Accordingly to information it would be the responsibility of the construction agencies approving designs, to use fly ash bricks, tiles, cement fly ash and such other productions or materials within time bound programme.

The state government would be the enforcing and monitoring authority to ensure compliance of these provisions. Before approving the design any agency or person would ensure the use of fly ash within 100 kms radius of the power plant in the building of roads and fly over as per the guidelines issued by (I.R.C.) Indian Road Congress.

The Board has made an appeal to all fly ash producing units and various government departments to take appropriate steps to ensure compliance with the circular issued on August 27, 2003 in order that the serious problem like fly ash could be brought under control.

Use of poly carry bags banned in state

Below 8-12 inch in size and 20 micron thick

In a significant move towards checking pollution due to waste plastic material, the State Government following the directives of the Forest and Environment Ministry, Government of India, has banned the sale and use of plastic carry bags of less than 8-12 inch size and below 20 micron thickness in the state. The State Environment Department Secretary and Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board chairman Vivek Dhand informed in a press release that the sale and use of plastic carry bags of thickness below 20 micron was banned under the provisions of Recycle Plastic Manufacture and Usage Rule, 1999 by the Government of India. However, certain amendments have been brought about in this rule recently according to which in addition of 20 micron limit of thickness, a provision has been incorporated to limit the size as well. Now the sale and use of plastic carry bags less than 8-12 inch size is also prohibited, informed Dhand. Elaborating on other provisions of the rule, Dhand said the minimum weight of 50 plastic carry bags should be 105 grams. He said besides ensuring strict enforcement of the rule, the State Environment Department would also ensure that no food material is stored, carried distributed or packed in the recycled plastic material.

According to Dhand, the plastic carry bags and utensils should be in their natural or white colour. More over, as per the amendment in the rule, now it is mandatory for all the manufacturers of carry bags, be it of the fresh or recycled plastic, to get the registration of their production unit renewed by the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board. Those found to be violating all these norms will be liable to punishment as per provisions.

Undoubtedly, plastic, which is ubiquitous and indispensable and indispensable material in the modern society, has posed a major threat to our environment. While the plastic waste chokes the sewerage system in the urban areas, it destroys the fertility of the fields also. Due to non-biodegradable nature of plastic, there is no other way but to avoid the use of it as much as possible.

Jail term, fine for polluting unit owner

THE SUPREME Court has slapped Rs one lakh fine on the owner of a polluting industry in Delhi and sentenced him to one-week imprisonment for his failure to close the unit as per the Court's order.

A bench comprising Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Justice H.K. Sema found Ashok Kumar Chhabra, owner of a hot mix plant, guilty of the contempt of the court for disobeying its order to shut down the unit.

It said the punishment would send a strong signal to the people who continued to operate their polluting units.

In 1996, the SC, while dealing with a petition, had asked the owners of 43 hot mix plants in Delhi to close down their units.

In its effort to check pollution, the Court had in 1998 also asked the Centre and the Delhi government to convert the 10,000 diesel buses into CNG mode. Besides, it slapped Rs ten lakh fine on Span Motels Private Ltd. for damaging the environment by changing the course of river Beas in Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

Lok Sabha Passes Bill On Water Cess

In A bid to check water pollution and ensure its judicious use, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill seeking a three-fold increase in the cess on water consumption by industries while abolishing the cess on hydel power projects. The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Cess (Amendment) Bill was passed after Environment Minister T.R. Baalu informed the House that about Rs. 140 crore was likely to be raised annually from the cess of which 80 percent would be given to State Pollution Control Boards. Baalu said the legislation sought to augment the resources of central and state pollution control boards and promote economy in the use of water to check pollution.

Hon'ble Supreme Court has passed specific directions for proper management of hazardous wastes generated from various industrial and other activities in the matter of W.P. No.657 of 1995 filed by the Research Foundation for Science Technology and Natural Resource Policy vs. Union of India and Others on 14^th October, 2003. A High - Powered Committee (HPC) was constituted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court to study the entire gamut of issues relating to hazardous wastes management. The report of HPC was examined and discussed in detail by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and most of the recommendations of the HPC have been accepted by the Court. The order includes wide ranging directions to Central and State Government Departments/Bodies for implementation in a time-bound manner. Some of the specific directions are as follows:

Hon'ble Supreme Court has constituted a Monitoring Committee to oversee the compliances of the directions by the various institutions.

Chhattisgarh Environment Board has taken various steps for compliance of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's directions as follows: