Environment Minister B V Ramana, has urged the leather industry in Tamil Nadu to focus on Zero Liquid Discharge technology to safeguard the environment.
The Minister was on an official visit to the Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) run by the Ranipet Tannery Effluent Treatment Company Limited on Tuesday.
Ranitec has implemented ZLD technology at the CETP at a cost of `44 crore, with 50 percent funding from the Central government, 15 per cent from the State government and the rest from tanners. The plant processes around 14 lakh litres of effluents everyday. Ranitec had sought consent from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to go ahead, following which the Minister had undertaken the personal inspection.
“All the CETPs and individual Effluent Treatment Plants have to go for the ZLD technology on a cost-effective basis and the government would extend all support within the norms,” the Minister assured. Complimenting the leather industry for taking a lead in introducing cleaner technologies to combat the long-standing issue of pollution, the Minister said that the industry should not stop with just identifying solutions, but should also take it forward.
The challenge is to protect the environment and reduce pollution he pointed out, adding that the ZLD technology had helped in a big way. The plant is yet to address the issue of tackling salt permeates from the Reverse Osmosis process and evaporation stages.
The Minister asked the tanners to seek help from the technology demonstration centre being established by the state government in collaboration with the IIT Madras in this regard.
Ramana added that in the last one year, no industry had been closed down by the TNPCB. “In fact, we have reopened many of the closed ones after ensuring that they complied with the norms of the board,” he said.
The CM had given a new lease of life to the dyeing units in Tirupur by sanctioning around `200 crore for upgrading 8 CETPS.
A `75-crore compensation was also paid to the farmers through the TNPCB.
Responding to pleas made by tanners led by M Mohamed Hashim and Backward Classes Minister Mohamed John (a local tanner) to extend help for subsiding power tariff, the Minister, instead, suggested them to explore the possibility of generating captive power from alternative sources from solar, coal and gas.