Hyderabad: Those who pollute air and water have hardly anything to fear in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and in most other states in India.
Data released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) states that only 60 cases were booked in 2015 across the country under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act. Of these, 43 cases were booked in Maharashtra alone.
Another shocking figure is that only 297 cases were booked under the Environment (Protection) Act across the country, of which 234 were in Uttar Pradesh. No cases were booked in Telangana and a single case was booked in Andhra Pradesh.
The record is pathetic even though Pollution Control Boards (PCB) can prosecute polluters under Air, Water and Environment Acts, which have provisions for imprisonment up to seven years along with fines. Even heads of government bodies like municipal corporations, which are majorly responsible for letting sewage into rivers, can be booked for pollution under these Acts.
Air and water pollutions are serious issues and have been reported in both TS and AP. In Hyderabad, the PCB receives at least 35-40 complaints a month regarding pollution.
When contacted, officials from AP and Telangana PCB gave mainly two reasons for not booking cases. One was that they did not want to “discourage” industries by prosecuting them and secondly, they say that they are “sending them notices regularly”.
Sending notices to polluters is a regular affair with PCBs. Polluters who do not heed to the notices are sent notices again with extended deadlines.
Mr B.V. Subba Rao, an environmentalist from Hyderabad who has been fighting on pollution issues for many years, said, “If the Pollution Control Boards do not want to prosecute polluters then they must be scrapped altogether.”
However, he did not pin the blame only on PCB. He said, “Youngsters need to take up the cause of pollution. They are studying Environmental Science but no one is getting on the ground to fight polluters.”
It is not surprising that a Swedish company, Nordea, which earlier this year had released a report on pharmaceutical pollution in Hyderabad and Vizag, blamed the PCBs of TS and AP as, “highly corrupt” and “working in cahoots” with the industries.
