Organic pollutants being promoted

NEW DELHI: India subsidises and promotes production of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) throughout the country, allege environmentalists, even as it makes an international commitment to minimize the production and use of 12 of the most toxic chemicals in the world, known as the Dirty Dozen by signing the United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) Stockholm Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
According to several green groups in the country which are members of the International POPs Elimination Network, two of the deadliest toxics known to man, dioxins and furans are found in very high levels in Indians, their food and wildlife. While welcoming India’s entry into the Stockholm Convention, the greens say that the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) actually promotes dioxin-emitting high heat waste to energy (WTE) technologies.
‘’WTE technologies usually involve burning leading to toxic emissions and this thwarts the purpose of signing the POPs convention,’’ points out Madhumita Dutta of Toxic Links.According to the NGO — Srishti — the MNES has issued an executive order to all the state chief secretaries and administrators of the UTs asking them to promote such waste to energy projects.
As a consequence, agreements for many such toxic projects have been signed apparently, without the Environment Impact Assessment and Public Hearing Process, not to mention approval from the Technical Appraisal Committee.
‘’The fact that MNES contradicts what the MoEF proposes to do, speaks volumes,’’ says Ravi Agarwal, environmentalist, Srishti. According to him Delhi’s Gazipur gasification based WTE project with 1000 mt per day to generate 25 MW of power is one such project which had been put on hold after Srishti’s objections.
Despite growing scientific evidence against incinerators, landfills and other end-of-pipe solutions which generate POPs, it is appaling that MNCs, aid agencies are pushing only such material disposal and destruction technologies into developing nations, say environmentalists.