BHUBANESWAR: Orissa has begun to feel the pressure of devastation to its environment caused by industrialisation. The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has identified 21 sites that have suffered serious soil contamination on account of mining and industrial activities. The contaminated belts are spread across the industrial and mining hubs of Angul-Talcher, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Mayurbhanj, Ganjam and Sukinda. As per the SPCB, the site at Talcher spread over 10 acre is among the worst-affected as the soil in the area has been grossly contaminated by the hazardous sodium dichromate salt. The site belonged to the erstwhile Orichem industry. Over 70,000 tonne of top soil in the belt require to be immediately removed, SPCB Member Secretary Siddhanta Das said at the ‘Waste Management Conclave’ organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce here on Friday. Sambalpur has several sites affected by fluoride contamination while the mining belt of Sukinda in Jajpur district is suffering from the chromium contamination. The damage has been inflicted on the environment thanks to the aversion to adopt proper waste management mechanisms by the industrial units and mining companies. In more than half of the contaminated sites, the industries responsible for the situation have ceased to exist or wound up their operations. And the SPCB has now shouldered the burden to initiate corrective measures. The SPCB has now ventured to create a specialised facility for shifting and disposal of the contaminated soil. It has established the first-of-its-kind Transfer, Storage and Disposal Facility for Hazardous Waste at Sukinda. The ` 50-crore facility spread over 70 acre is a pond with a double-layered jacket to hold the waste without any chance of leakage. “More than three to four lakh tonne of contaminated soil are required to be shifted to the facility. Many companies have also come forward for in-situ treatment. We are evaluating their proposals,” Das said. Management of fly ash has become a major challenge in the way of controlling pollution. The State with 7,000 MW thermal power generation at present generates 20 MT of fly ash per year. With the power generation slated to go up to 45,000 MW, fly ash output would rise to 100 MT. There was an urgent necessity to utilise the ash as an input for cement industry, making of bricks and building materials, road construction or even filling up of the mine voids, Das said. Meanwhile, Orissa continues to lag in the National Environment Performance Index that includes five parameters of air pollution, water pollution, forest management, waste management and initiatives for climate change. It holds 11th rank overall but when it comes to waste management it is positioned as low as 26 among the states.
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