AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat government has admitted in the assembly that 172 private companies have been operating in the state without environmental clearance certificates in the last three years, and that complaints of violations of environmental regulations in Gujarat have also been increasing each year.
In response to a question raised in the Gujarat Assembly on September 14 by C.J. Chavda, Congress MLA from Vijapur, the Gujarat Government's Forest and Environment Ministry stated, "As of 31/03/23, 172 companies were operating district-wise in the state without environmental clearance in the last three years, with the highest number in Porbandar district."
Responding to Congress MLA Amit Chavda's question in the state assembly, the government stated that in the fiscal year 2020-21, 987 complaints were received against industries in the state for breaking environmental standards. In 2021-22, 1241 complaints were received, and in 2022-23, 1597 complaints were received.
According to statistics released by the Gujarat government, 35 companies were operating without environmental permission in 2020-21, 25 companies in 2021-22, and 19 companies in 2022-23 in the Porbandar district. While 73 companies were functioning without environmental authorization in 2020-21, 49 in 2021-22, and 50 in 2022-23 in 33 districts of Gujarat.
Around 1535 show cause notices have been given to enterprises that had violated environmental regulations, 791 notices of direction issued, 455 directions issued, 15 legal notices issued, and 1391 applications have been deemed unnecessary in the last three years, it stated.
Disagreeing with the government's data, environmentalists claimed that the number of companies that truly affect the environment is higher than the figures reported.
Mahesh Pandya, an environmental activist, blames the government saying, "These figures are based on people's complaints but the question is, does the government not know how such companies operate?"
“Such firms appear to be operating under the watchful eye of the government, and the government appears to be playing a deadly game with the lives of common people for its own gain," he asserted.