After years of follow-up by industrial associations and the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), the industries of Pimpri Chinchwad are to get a common effluent treatment plant (CETP).
Industrial units in the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) zones of Pimpri, Chinchwad, Bhosari and Nigdi have been demanding a CETP for the past many years. Around 4,000 small and medium industrial units are functional in the area. Pimpri Chinchwad has been mentioned by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board as a place with several polluting units.
The MCCIA has for long demanded a CETP but the availability of land was one of the main reasons that prevented the setting up of the plant. After extensive advocacy, the MIDC has identified a 1.5-acre land parcel in the Bhosari industrial area for the CETP. A special purpose vehicle by the name of PCMC CETP Foundation has been set up to execute the project.
“A process of establishment of a CETP has begun. This facility is being created at plot No. 188/1, Bhosari, MIDC, Pune 411026 to benefit hundreds of industrial units generating hazardous effluents in PCMC and surrounding areas. This CETP is being established with the help and support of PCMC, MIDC, MPCB, and local Industrial units. MCCIA is providing facilitation and coordination support in the establishment process. A Special Purpose Vehicle viz. ‘PCMC-CETP Foundation’, has been created for this purpose. This CETP will help clean the environment by reducing soil and water pollution,” read a press statement issued by the MCCIA.
The CETP would have a capacity to treat 1 million liters of water per day and would be jointly financed by the PCMC, MIDC, MPCB and local industrial associations.
Corporation municipal commissioner Shekhar Singh was slated to perform the ground breaking ceremony for the plant in the MCCIA’s Bhosari unit on Wednesday.