The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has ordered closure of 639 polluting industrial units in 2010-11 and directed the highly polluting industries to set up continuous online monitoring stations to ensure compliance of standards of air emissions.
Stating this here today, Environment and Forest Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said that no polluting unit will be allowed to operate without having installed the pollution control devices.
The Minister said that online monitoring stations will also be set up at inter-State points in Palla and Badarpur villages on the Yamuna river to ascertain the level of pollution.
“The pollution level is fairly under control, and the overall environment in the State has improved significantly.
Fully conscious of the need to ensure that things do not deteriorate, we are keeping regular tabs on polluting units, and carry out surprise checks to ensure that they have installed pollution control devices, and that these are in working order,” he said.
The government has launched prosecution against 151 polluting units in the Special Environment Courts in Faridabad and Kurukshetra, and made 9,239 units install pollution control devices, he said.
The State government has also imposed a complete ban on the manufacture and use of plastic articles like cups, plates, spoons and straws on the precincts of religious places like Mata Mansa Devi Temple at Panchkula, Mata Sheetla Devi Temple, Gurgaon, religious towns of Kurukshetra and Thanesar, and the environmentally sensitive areas like Morni Hills, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
“We have also requested the governments of neighbouring States of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to stop the supply of plastic carry bags to Haryana,” he added.
