The recent revelation that the Investment Promotion Board has cleared eight red category projects since the board’s inception, which was around 20 months ago, is a startling one. Of course, if one looks at the percentage of red category projects in the large number of projects cleared (98) then it’s less than 10 percent. But even that is a lot, given the infrastructural issues and the need to regulate pollution in the State.
A red category project is one that has a pollution index score of 60 and above. Next comes the orange category with a score of 41 to 59. The green category has an index score of 21 to 40, while the white has the lowest index scores. Red category industries are those that have the highest emissions in terms of air pollutants, effluents in the water, heavy consumption of resources and hazardous waste that is generated. Distilleries, industries dealing with petrochemicals, iron ore, etc, fall under the red category.
In recent times, the IPB approved an alcohol and beer plant in Sanguem, the expansion of production capacity by a brewery company in Madkai and another capacity expansion by a brewery company in Ponda. Now red category industries go with the territory. There will be applications and there will have to be approvals of some projects. There are requirements within the state for products by these companies and hence there cannot be a blanket ban on them. But there has to be better logic by which the State approves and monitors these red category projects much more than the ones lower down the pollution index. The project reports by many industries are very skimpy on the details. There has to be a basic template for project reports, which have to mention more than just the area required and the jobs that they will create. At the outset itself, the project report must be a detailed information sheet on what the company will be doing on all fronts. Monitoring will only just confirm the numbers, etc, over the years.
There are no proper feasibility studies done either, to ensure that the areas where these industries are located have the carrying capacity to provide proper electrical infrastructure for the factory. In the case of Vani Agro in Sanguem, a feasibility study would have exposed the vulnerability of the area when it came to supplying water for the alcohol and beer plant. The project may have not even been approved were that the case.
The Departments of Industries and Environment have to work hand in hand to ensure that there is some consensus on red and orange category industries. Sure, Goa does need the business and the jobs, but that cannot be done at the cost of the State’s resources.
