Sustainable technologies should be deployed to Clean Ganga, says Executive Chairman of Praj

Mumbai, 9 January 2015: “India needs to replace conventional technologies with advanced technologies in order to ensure that the ‘Clean Ganga Project’ is implemented sustainably” said Mr Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman of Praj Industries, at the 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) at University of Mumbai on Tuesday.

The government’s ambitious Clean Ganga Project has just started taking shape. The government has set a target of three years to rejuvenate the polluted holy river Ganga and has formulated an integrated ‘Namaami Gange’ plan. Industrial waste from over 700 grossly polluting industries, such as pulp and paper, tanneries, textiles and chemicals, contribute to the pollution in at least four states through which the river flows.

At a symposium hosted by the ISC, Mr.Chaudhari said that virtually all milestones in rejuvenating the sacred river – divided into short-term, medium-term and long-term phases — depend heavily on the use of technologies, from Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) to online monitoring. The bigger corporates have already introduced green technologies. But there could be issues of financing forMSMEs .This calls for an integrated approach to project development with cost effective technologies and innovative funding mechanism.

Nearly 140 drains between Gangotri and Gangasagar open into the river Ganga to discharge municipal and industrial wastewater. At present, after being treated in different sewage treatment plants and common effluent treatment plants, the industrial wastewater goes into drains and eventually gets discharged into river. The ZLD is a concept where the entire industrial waste water can be reused after recycling without discharging a drop into any river.
Mr Chaudhari explained that all water can be recycled in a scientific manner so that it can be reused. Even farmers may be able to use it for irrigation. The recycled water can be sold to end users.

Praj Industries is a leading provider of ZLD and recycle and reuse solutions with advanced technologies. Mr Chaudhari said that home-grown breakthrough technology of Praj Industries has helped to resolve textile pollution issue in one virtually dead industrial town of Tamil Nadu. Tirupur in Tamil Nadu being a textile belt faced the crisis of severe pollution of water bodies due to discharge of coloured effluent from the bleaching and dyeing units. More than 600 dyeing units remained closed for almost two years for want of a reliable solution. This extended the closure of textile dyeing clusters till the installation of the ZLD unit by Praj which has helped to build confidence for reopening of the textile units in compliance with the pollution norms. The Tirupur project also shows the way of how a project can recover some part of the cost by way of recovery of salts which can be reused in the process.