Parliament Question: Pollution in industrial belts of Odisha

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2309 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2026 Pollution in industrial belts of Odisha

2309. SHRI MANAS RANJAN MANGARAJ:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

(a) whether Government has received reports regarding air and water pollution in industrial belts of Odisha;

(b) the number of inspections/audits conducted by concerned authorities during the last three years;

(c) the action taken against non-compliant industries, including penalties and closure directions, if any; and

(d) the steps taken to strengthen monitoring and real-time pollution control systems in the State? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE (SHRI KIRTI VARDHAN SINGH)

(a) to (d):

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) regulate air and water quality by enactment of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and notified different Rules, Regulations based on the said acts to implement various Schemes for protection and development of air and water bodies.

State Pollution Control Boards/Pollution Control Committees, through Consent mechanism under Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981, monitor the establishment and operation of industries and polluting activities through prescription of pollution control measures and monitoring the compliance of environmental standards Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) has conducted a total of 9614 inspections of industries in last three years. As per information received from Odisha SPCB, there are a total of 13,256 industries in Odisha. Out of these industries, 12,156 industries are operational. Among these industries, 922 industries are non-complying with the prescribed environmental standards, againstwhich actions (Closure Directions: 233; Show Cause Notices: 241; Directives: 422; and Legal cases

filed: 26) were taken by the Odisha SPCB, as per the provisions of the Environmental laws.

To control industrial pollution, the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has notified “Standards for Emission or Discharge of Environmental Pollutants for various industries” under Schedule-I of the Environment Protection Rules, 1986.

To strengthen enforcement and ensure compliance with environmental standards, CPCB has issued directions u/s 18(1)(b) of the Water and the Air Act to all SPCBs/PCCs to inspect Red, Orange, and Green categories of industries at a minimum inspection frequency of 6 months, 1 year and 2 years, for verification of compliance of environmental norms.

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) identified Severely and Other Polluted industrial areas in Odisha based on Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI), namely Ib-valley, Paradeep, Jajpur, Angul Talchar and Jharsuguda Industrial areas. Action plans for reducing the CEPI score in these industrial areas have been prepared and implemented by Odisha State Pollution Control Board In addition, the Odisha SPCB has taken following steps to strengthen monitoring and real-time

pollution control systems in the State:

1. Installation of Continuous Emission Monitoring Stations (CEMS)/ Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Stations (CAAQMS)/ Continuous Effluent Quality Monitoring Stations (CEQMS)/ HD IP Cameras in all 17 categories and large-scale industries and mines and data transmission to SPCB.

2. Dedicated Online monitoring Cell at Head Office, Bhubaneswar.

3. Development of Regional Environmental Monitoring and Data Analysis Centre (REMDAC) at all the Regional Offices for Realtime data monitoring.

4. Development of Portal for Realtime Acquisition System for Analysis & Reporting (PRASAR) dashboard for easy assessment of Environmental Compliances in terms of the emission and discharge. *****