BENGALURU: Though Bosch temporarily closed its Adugodi centre on Saturday, government industries on the list are still dilly-dallying over the issue. Bosch has, however, decided to reopen its unit on Monday.
As per the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) order, “all the industries in the catchment area of Bellandur Lake that are discharging effluent (treated or untreated) into the water body shall shut down with immediate effect”.
There are 488 such industries listed, and Bosch was the first to voluntarily shut down its plant. The Bosch facility will, however, reopen on Monday as the firm made a representation to the KSPCB authorities, who clarified that the provisions in the public notification were not applicable to it even though the firm was labelled as red on the list - the code for the most polluting industries. Soumitra Bhattacharya, president, Bosch Group India, through a release, stated, “Necessary sewage and effluent treatment measures have been implemented and are operational.” KSPCB officials couldn’t be reached for their comments regarding this.
The 488 listed industries include a few government bodies - five units of HAL, Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) and one of BMTC’s bus depots at HSR Layout. However, none of these industries intend to shut down as of now. They are either unaware of their name on the list or deny discharging any effluent into the lake.
The presence of HAL units in the list came as no surprise to some citizens, who questioned the approach of the civic agencies towards HAL.
Monil J, a citizen, said, “If HAL is taken care of, it will put a stop to half of the effluents discharged in the lake. HAL releases large amounts of sewage into the lake. But since it is a central agency, the agencies have been liberal towards them.”
KSPCB officials claim they have inspected the industry on several occasions and have issued directions. They further said HAL has a treatment system available but it is not very effective.
Gopal Sutar, PRO of HAL, said HAL is aware of its name on the list and its officials are in talks with KSPCB officials to find out why its name was on the list. He confirmed that HAL has no intention to shut down any unit as of now.
When Express contacted Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy to know about the status of the BMTC depot in HSR Layout that figures on the list of the 488 polluting industries, he expressed his ignorance on the matter.
BMTC Managing Director Ekroop Caur said, “I will have to check with the depot manager if they are functional. But as far as I know, we are not releasing any effluents in any lake.”
KCDC Chairman Kenche Gowda was firm that the industry wasn’t polluting the lake and wanted a clarification about the matter from KSPCB. “Let the officers tell us what our mistake is, because KCDC is not discharging anything into the lake. I don’t know why our name is on the list. We’ve created a pit from where we load the leachate into a truck. This is then sent to the treatment plant. We will ask KSPCB officials to clarify our mistake.”