Over the last five years, there has been a doubling of complaints regarding industrial units causing pollution in Gujarat, as revealed by data presented in the Gujarat Assembly during the recent monsoon session. These complaints are increasingly emerging from newer areas such as Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Kutch, signifying a noteworthy shift. Notably, some of the reported grievances are from regions predominantly inhabited by tribal populations.
According to the information disclosed in response to an unstarred question by Congress MLA Rajeshkumar Gohil, the Gujarat government recorded 271 complaints against 191 industrial units in the year spanning from July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019. This represents a 100 percent increase from the period between July 2014 and June 2015 when 135 complaints against 105 units were reported. The trend of complaints about polluting units has been steadily ascending throughout the period from July 2014 to June 2019.
While traditional industrial clusters like Ahmedabad, Bharuch, and Valsad were historically associated with housing polluting units, the recent data indicates a spread of industrial pollution to districts like Rajkot, Jamnagar, and Kutch.
Rajkot witnessed the most substantial increase in pollution complaints among districts, escalating from five complaints against one unit in 2014-15 to 31 complaints against 21 industrial units in 2018-19. Similarly, Kutch experienced a rise in complaints from three in 2014-15 to 23 in 2018-19, while Jamnagar reported 46 complaints in 2018-19 compared to just seven five years prior.
During the five-year period, Dangs emerged as the only district with zero complaints about pollution in Gujarat. However, pollution complaints started surfacing in some predominant tribal districts such as Panchmahal, Dahod, and Chotta Udepur. For example, Panchmahal district, which had one complaint in 2014-15, registered six pollution complaints against nine units in 2018-19.
Nine districts, including Aravalli, Botad, Dahod, Gir-Somnath, Junagadh, Mahisagar, Morbi, Patan, and Porbandar, which had no pollution complaints in 2014-15, reported one to six complaints in 2018-19.
Interestingly, districts like Ahmedabad and Bharuch, which housed polluted industrial clusters like Vatva, Naroda, and Ankleshwar, saw a decline in pollution complaints by 65 percent and 55 percent, respectively, over the five-year period. However, Vadodara, previously labeled the “most polluted industrial cluster” in Gujarat by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2019, experienced almost double the pollution complaints, reaching 18 in 2018-19.
In response to the 962 complaints received between July 2014 and June 2019, the state government stated that these were forwarded to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) for necessary action. A GPCB official attributed the decrease in pollution complaints in critically polluted areas to government actions against defaulters. The official acknowledged a rise in defaulters each year and emphasized GPCB’s efforts to crack down on such polluters. Additionally, the official noted that the surge in complaints from other districts and remote areas is indicative of increased awareness about pollution among residents, leading to the reporting of even minor instances of pollution.
