Climate change is a burning issue and a lot of stress has been put on cutting down carbon emissions globally. Be it the climate change conference held at Marrakech or the air pollution crisis of Delhi, the world is concerned about the rising global temperature and depleting environment. For the first time, the attention of the world towards tackling pollution was drawn during the United Nations Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in June 1972. This conference was organised when large-scale industrial pollution was witnessed post 1960s. The then-Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi had singled out poverty as the main cause for environmental degradation in her speech. One of the significant environmental laws came two years after the conferenceThe Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Actwhich was enacted to control pollution of water and maintaining the wholesomeness of water. Twelve states had passed the enabling resolutions in pursuance of clause 19 of article 252. This Act paved the way for the creation of autonomous pollution watchdog in the country: Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and state pollution control boards. CPCB was created under section 3 of the Water Act. At that time, the name was Central Board for the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution because its functions were restricted to controlling water pollution only. Under section 4, state pollution control board was also created. It was formed under the ministry of works and housing (which is now known as the ministry of urban development), recalls Dr D.D. Basu, former additional director, CPCB and now an advisor at Centre for Science and Environment. Piles of data books published during his tenure are still on his worktable. He still has the picture of his old office on his personal computer. The first office was a dilapidated building near Shastri Bhawan which was then shifted to Nehru Place and later on to East Arjun Nagar, he says. Each board consists of a chairman and five members, with agriculture, fisheries and government-owned industry having representation. The functions include laying the standards for a stream or well, planning a nationwide programme for control of water pollution, collect, compile and publish technical and statistical data relating to water pollution, advise the government on any matter concerning water pollution and co-ordinating the activities of state boards. Nobody knew about pollution at the time when CPCB was formed. Our job was to create awareness. We used to compile water quality data, air data and sponsorships for projects with different institutes to conduct surveys in states. A lot of publications for laying industry-specific standards and effluent standards were released. A series of publications were released such as Control of Urban Pollution series and Assessment and Development of River-related Projects series. The judiciary and the civil society used to refer data from these publications in various cases, reminisces Basu. In 1976, the first chairman to be elected was Nilay Chaudhari (a renowned environmentalist) who was responsible for developing the Ganga Action Plan, 1984. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had asked Chaudhari to develop a comprehensive plan for the highly polluted Ganga. Two comprehensive reports were prepared by CPCB in October 1984. Three-fourth of the pollution of the river comprised of untreated municipal sewage, he adds. The functions of CPCB and state boards widened when the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act was passed in 1986 as a fallout of the Bhopal gas tragedy. Subsequently, Environment Protection Act (EPA) was also passed which was an umbrella Act. Under this EPA, several ruleshazardous waste management, municipal waste management, e-waste management, noise pollution control and elimination of ozone depleting substanceswere also laid which covered every aspect of pollution. CPCB was only an advisory body before 1990s and we just had to lay the norms. It is only now that the NGT (National Green Tribunal) directs it for conducting inspections too. There were a lot of landmark cases which had come up by the analysis and data of pollution control boardsloudspeakers were banned in the country after 10pm in 2000 and the case of decibel level of firecrackers was also historic in which the noise and air quality monitoring was carried out in the years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002, said an environment lawyer requesting anonymity. Some are of the view that the pollution watchdog hasn’t been provided adequate funds. Ministry tends to behave like the parent of the pollution control board. It has never considered that it was its duty to make it successful. There is a Water Cess Acta state pollution control board collected an amount of cess and remitted to the central exchequer. A sizeable part of it is returned to the state boards. The retained money could have been utilised for sustaining the central board. Whatever remained at the centre should have been given to the central board which always remained hand to mouth, said a former CPCB chairman requesting anonymity. He also opined that there is a dearth of human resource in this sector which should be encouraged.
2015 VCCircle.com.