Now the use of fly ash in all types of building construction work has been made compulsory within 100 kms radius of the power plants. Lately a new circular is issued by the Forest and Environment Ministry of the Central Government to ensure the maximum use of fly ash produced from all the power plants in all construction work within 100 kms. Use of at least 25% fly ash has been made compulsory. Accordingly to information it would be the responsibility of the construction agencies approving designs, to use fly ash bricks, tiles, cement fly ash and such other productions or materials within time bound programme. The state government would be the enforcing and monitoring authority to ensure compliance of these provisions. Before approving the design any agency or person would ensure the use of fly ash within 100 kms radius of the power plant in the building of roads and fly over as per the guidelines issued by (I.R.C.) Indian Road Congress. The Board has made an appeal to all fly ash producing units and various government departments to take appropriate steps to ensure compliance with the circular issued on August 27, 2003 in order that the serious problem like fly ash could be brought under control.

In a significant move towards checking pollution due to waste plastic material, the State Government following the directives of the Forest and Environment Ministry, Government of India, has banned the sale and use of plastic carry bags of less than 8-12 inch size and below 20 micron thickness in the state. The State Environment Department Secretary and Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board chairman Vivek Dhand informed in a press release that the sale and use of plastic carry bags of thickness below 20 micron was banned under the provisions of Recycle Plastic Manufacture and Usage Rule, 1999 by the Government of India. However, certain amendments have been brought about in this rule recently according to which in addition of 20 micron limit of thickness, a provision has been incorporated to limit the size as well. Now the sale and use of plastic carry bags less than 8-12 inch size is also prohibited, informed Dhand. Elaborating on other provisions of the rule, Dhand said the minimum weight of 50 plastic carry bags should be 105 grams. He said besides ensuring strict enforcement of the rule, the State Environment Department would also ensure that no food material is stored, carried distributed or packed in the recycled plastic material. According to Dhand, the plastic carry bags and utensils should be in their natural or white colour. More over, as per the amendment in the rule, now it is mandatory for all the manufacturers of carry bags, be it of the fresh or recycled plastic, to get the registration of their production unit renewed by the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board. Those found to be violating all these norms will be liable to punishment as per provisions. Undoubtedly, plastic, which is ubiquitous and indispensable and indispensable material in the modern society, has posed a major threat to our environment. While the plastic waste chokes the sewerage system in the urban areas, it destroys the fertility of the fields also. Due to non-biodegradable nature of plastic, there is no other way but to avoid the use of it as much as possible.

THE SUPREME Court has slapped Rs one lakh fine on the owner of a polluting industry in Delhi and sentenced him to one-week imprisonment for his failure to close the unit as per the Court's order. A bench comprising Justice Y. K. Sabharwal and Justice H.K. Sema found Ashok Kumar Chhabra, owner of a hot mix plant, guilty of the contempt of the court for disobeying its order to shut down the unit. It said the punishment would send a strong signal to the people who continued to operate their polluting units. In 1996, the SC, while dealing with a petition, had asked the owners of 43 hot mix plants in Delhi to close down their units. In its effort to check pollution, the Court had in 1998 also asked the Centre and the Delhi government to convert the 10,000 diesel buses into CNG mode. Besides, it slapped Rs ten lakh fine on Span Motels Private Ltd. for damaging the environment by changing the course of river Beas in Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.

In A bid to check water pollution and ensure its judicious use, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Bill seeking a three-fold increase in the cess on water consumption by industries while abolishing the cess on hydel power projects. The Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Cess (Amendment) Bill was passed after Environment Minister T.R. Baalu informed the House that about Rs. 140 crore was likely to be raised annually from the cess of which 80 percent would be given to State Pollution Control Boards. Baalu said the legislation sought to augment the resources of central and state pollution control boards and promote economy in the use of water to check pollution.

All hazardous wastes generating units have authorization as per Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling) Rules 1989 (as amended on 2003). The hazardous waste generating units have already been directed to display the relevant information with regard to hazardous wastes as indicated in the Court Order. Their are 144 hazardous wastes generating units in the state (3 units are closed presently) and all the units have complied the court order and displayed relevant data such as quantity and nature of hazardous chemicals being handled including waste water & air emissions, solid/hazardous wastes generated etc. Board has completed inventory of hazardous wastes generation as per amended rule 2003. There are no hazardous wastes dumpsites in the state at present. The Board has the required technical staff for the purpose of hazardous waste management. The state does not have much generation of hazardous waste. However, it is proposed to develop common hazardous wastes treatment, storage, disposal site at Bhilai-Durg area. For this purpose, three sites have been identified and kept reserved for this purpose in the Heavy Industrial Area, Bhilai. Board had submitted proposal to MoEF/GOI for financial assistance to carryout the EIA study for selection/suitability of proposed site for development of common treatment, storage, disposal site. Strict monitoring is being done through the field officers of CECB and hazardous wastes are not allowed to be discharged in open dumps. Field officers of CECB are strictly monitoring the situation regarding import of hazardous waste. Appropriate action shall be taken if illegal import of hazardous waste taken place due to non-fulfillment of the requisite conditions required under the Rules.