Parliament Question: Environmental Pollution Caused by Textile Industry

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2533 TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.03.2026 Environmental Pollution Caused by Textile Industry 2533. SHRI G. LAKSHMINARAYANA: Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state: (a) the extent of environmental pollution caused by the textile and apparel industry during the last five years, including water pollution, air emissions and hazardous waste generation, State/UT- wise; (b) the number of textile units identified as polluting and the status of their compliance with prescribed environmental norms, State/UT-wise; (c) the details of pollution control infrastructure supported or created by the Government, including Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETPs), Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) systems and solid and hazardous waste management facilities, along with capacity created and units covered; (d) the details of the funds allocated, released and utilised under various Central schemes for pollution control and environmental compliance in the textile sector during the last five years; (e) the number of proposals received, approved, rejected and pending for setting up or upgrading CETPs, ZLD plants or adopting cleaner technologies; and (f) the steps taken/proposed to be taken to strengthen monitoring, enforcement and adoption of sustainable and low-pollution technologies in the textile industry? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH) (a) to (f): The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has revised the categorisation of the industries including Textile industry in 2025 and issued direction on 12.02.2025 to all the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs)/ Pollution Control Committees (PCCs) under section 18(1)(b) of the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 for harmonisation of classification of industrial sector under Red, Orange, Green, White and Blue categories.The CPCB carries out random surprise inspections of the industries to verify their compliance by analysing real-time Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS) data, National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) program (in Ganga Basin) and on receipt of public complaints/representations etc., as and when required. Based on the severity of violations, during the last five years, CPCB has issued closure direction to six units under Section 5 of Environment Protection Act, 1986 for non-compliance with effluent /emission discharge standards. All these 6 units have later complied with CPCBs closure direction and the closure directions were revoked. State wise details of polluting units and status of their compliance is being maintained by concerned State Governments. There are 225 operational CETPs across 21 States in the country, with a combined design treatment capacity for the treatment of 2245 million litres per day (MLD) of industrial wastewater. Out of these 56 CETPs located in various States are designed to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD). To strengthen self-regulation with Online Continuous Effluent Monitoring Systems (OCEMS), 184 CETPs are equipped with real-time monitoring and alert system with connectivity to the server of SPCBs/PCCs and CPCB. Further, in order to harmonize the discharge norms of CETPs w.r.t. the discharge norms of contributing industrial sectors and for effective monitoring and proper functioning of CETPs, MoEFCC published an amendment notification on 09.09.2024 which comprises harmonised discharge norms for CETPs and also defines the roles and responsibilities of various stake holders for proper functioning of CETPs. The MoEFCC vide G.S.R. 978(E), dated 10.10.2016 notified standards for treated effluent for All Integrated textile units, units of Cotton / Woollen / Carpets / Polyester, Units having Printing / Dyeing / Bleaching process or manufacturing and Garment units. The concerned SPCBs/PCCs in respective States ensure the implementation and compliance of these standards. In order to facilitate the textile industry to meet the required environmental standards and to support new CETP/ upgradation of CETPs in processing clusters/ processing parks, the Ministry of Textiles has been implementing Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) since 2013. The scheme aims at facilitating the Indian textile industry to become globally competitive using environmentally friendly processing standards and technology. The scheme is being implemented for completing ongoing projects only. Under the Scheme, 6 projects have been sanctioned which are currently under implementation. So far, Rs. 213 crores of Government of India grant has been released till date. The details of projects is enclosed as Annexure-I. *****Annexure-I Details of projects sanctioned under Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) (Rs. In crore) S. Name of the State Sanction Project Approved Released Status No. Project Date Cost GoI share GoI share 1 Balotra Rajasthan 06.07.2015 131.89 65.89 62.45 Nearing Water completion Pollution stage. Control Treatment & Reverse Osmosis Private Ltd 2 Jasol Water Rajasthan 19.10. 38.5 19.25 14.43 Under Pollution 2015 Implementation Control Treatment & Reverse Osmosis Private Limited 3 Sanganer Rajasthan 11.03. 159 75 37.5 Under Enviro 2016 Implementation Project Development 4 Nextgen Rajasthan 13.04.2021 129.42 64.71 6.3 Under Textile Park Implementation 5 Pali Rajasthan 19.10.2016 100 50 37.5 Under Common Implementation Effluent Treatment Plant 6 Gujarat Eco Gujarat 06.04.2018 146.39 73.195 54.84 Under Textile Park Implementation *****