Srinagar: As the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) notified the formation of the Jammu & Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (J&KPCC), concerns have been raised about the structure of the committee and its technical deficiencies in addressing the mammoth task of addressing pollution issues in J&K.
According to an official gazette notification of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) dated 25 March 2021, a copy of which has been obtained by Ziraat Times, CPCB has constituted a new entity called as Jammu & Kashmir Pollution Control Committee (J&KPCC), and has delegated all its powers to the said committee. The notification has come into force on 25 March, 2021.
Several industrial associations and environmentalists are questioning the rationale of the structure of the committee and are expressing their concern for the environmental protection implications of the technical flaw of the omission of the Kashmir region completely from the committee.
Others are also concerned that while due provincial representation was ensured in such committees over the years to promote just, representative and inclusive system of governance, such decisions undermine the principles of equity. Gender activists also express disappointment that there is no clear representation to women in the committee.
What the committee is all about
According to the notification, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has delegated all its powers, ‘vested under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, in respect of Jammu & Kashmir’ to a committee, which besides having Chairman, Jammu & Kashmir Pollution Control Committee as chairman have the following members:
- Additional Secretary, Forest, Ecology & Environment Dept, J&K Govt
- Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department, J&K Govt
- Secretary, Housing & Urban Development Department, J&K Govt
- Secretary, Transport Department, J&K Govt
- Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, J&K Govt
- Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Jammu
- Medical Superintendent, Government Medical College, Jammu
- Regional Officer, Ministry of Environment, Forests, Jammu, or his/her Nominee
- Dr. Pankaj Chandan, Director, NWCC, National Development Foundation (NDF), Jammu
- Professor Anil K. Raina, Dept of Environmental Science, Jammu University
- Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board or his/her Nominee
- Managing Director, Small Industrial Corporation, J&K
- Member Secretary, J&K Pollution Control Committee
Notably, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Government Medical College, Srinagar, business chambers and all other expert academic institutions associated with the universities in Kashmir region, have no representation in the committee. In the J&K Pollution Control Board, constituted in September 2014 in its latest structure, Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, and President, Federation of Chamber of Industries, Kashmir, were members of the board.
Questionable technicality
According to the Environment Awareness Forum, J&K, the exclusion of the Kashmir region from the committee, besides having unpleasant connotations, has technical ramifications.
“The question is how would the committee with partial or no knowledge of environmental protection imperatives of temperate Kashmir region, the requirements for environmental clearances for industries and the technicalities of the environmental protection regime be able to meet the criteria for environmental protection as stipulated by law?”, Environment Awareness Forum, J&K said.
Pertinently, in the existing scheme of governance of J&K, most of the administrative departments of the two regions of Kashmir and Jammu, have clearly-defined administrative jurisdictions and mandates. Observers express surprise how a system of representation from one particular administrative region could work for the whole for J&K in administering pollution control laws.
Why industrial and environmental groups are surprised?
Federation Chamber of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has already expressed its ‘deep dismay’ over the formation of the committee without any representation to the business community and SMC from the Kashmir region.
Bhushan Parimoo, a veteran environmentalist, who has been associated with the efforts of the formation of the Pollution Control Board, J&K in its earlier days, and has written extensively on J&K’s ecology and environment told Ziraat Times that he was deeply astonished with the composition of the committee.
“The way member recommendations for the committee and its approval have been done, one is forced to question their wisdom and the intention behind this entire exercise. It is not good for the unity and integrity of J&K. Moreover, the environment is not an issuewhich can be restricted on the basis of political thoughts or to a certain segment”, Mr Parimoo said.
Commenting on the development, Faiz Bakshi, convenor of the influential Environmental Policy Group (EPG) said the group bears no grudge for the inclusion of members from Jammu but fairness demands that both regions are rationally represented.
“The exclusion of Kashmir-based officials and experts is quite intriguing, to say the least”, he added.
Manzoor Wangnoo, one of the foremost conservation activists, whose Nigeen Lake Conservation Organization is undertaking a major clean up exercise of crucial Srinagar lakes opines that equity has so far being maintained both in Jammu and Kashmir in such administrative systems. “In the interests of effective environmental protection, we hope the same criteria will be taken into consideration in giving representation to J&K Pollution Control Committee”, Mr Wangnoo said.
On the non-inclusion of Srinagar Municipal Corporation in the committee, Bhushan Parimoo observed that to him and his environmental group ‘while it was understandable that JMC Commissioner and Superintendent of Hospitals were members of the committee’, it was quite questionable that even the non-official members of the committee, with no track record of working for pollution and other related issues, from one particular region, were part of the committee.
