A photo essay published in The Hindu Business Line by Sumit Mahar member of Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective
An industrial zone in Himachal’s Solan district leaves a trail of pollution and environmental degradation
Baddi. Barotiwala. Nalagarh. The first two names won’t ring a bell if your interest in Himachal Pradesh is purely touristic. The third, with a fort-turned-heritage hotel, may still sound familiar. Together, these three towns in Solan district form the Baddi Barotiwala Nalagarh (BBN) Industrial Area. Close to 3,000 units are crammed into the zone, which was formed in 1984-85 along NH 21A. The BBN area is home to a long list of industries, which speaks for the success of the state government’s industrial package — cement factories, textile units, stone crushers, aluminium smelters, lead-acid battery manufacturers, boiler producers, brick kilns, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics companies. Tax subsidies granted by both the Centre and the state have attracted units from highly-polluted industrial areas like Vapi in Gujarat and Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh.
The dark side of this success story is the environmental crisis brewing in the region. In 2009, the BBN area was identified for a Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI) study along with 88 other industrial clusters across the country. With an index rating of 69.7 per cent, it almost made it to the Central Pollution Control Board’s list of ‘critically polluted’ areas.
Depletion of groundwater due to heavy extraction, increasing river pollution, air pollution, generation of fly ash, illegal dumping of hazardous waste and riverbed mining are some of the key problems identified in the area. Discharge of contaminated waste into the water bodies have polluted six to seven small streams flowing into the Sirsa, a tributary of the Sutlej. Here are some images from this toxic gateway to the Himalayas.
Photo Essay’s Link : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/article7611914.ece#im-image-5
