Following an order by National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is extending a helping hand to district administrations across the country to prepare a District Environment Plan (DEP) by providing a model plan on its website recently. This model plan may be adopted as per local requirements by all Districts under supervision of District Magistrate (DM). The NGT order stated that all districts must have to prepare their DEP and the Department of Environment in all States and Union Territories (UTs) should collect the DEP to prepare State Environment Plan, which shall be monitored by respective Chief Secretaries of States and UTs. “We have started working on the DEP one year ago but due to the pandemic the work got hampered,” said District Collector Ravindra Thakare to ‘The Hitavada’.

 

The model (DEP) is envisaged to bring the scope of environmental management to local administration, so as to set their own goals and targets to achieve desired environmental quality. The DEP is intended as a quick reference to the personnel of District Administration to identify key environmental issues within the district boundary, prioritise the required projects, strategise and plan for implementation and outline tentative timelines for completion of projects. This report will also help regulators to monitor compliance and is structured to allow updates and monitoring at State-level. CPCB has prepared data templates for preparation of DEPs.

 

Data templates have been circulated to all districts to gather information related to key parameters essential for preparing environment management plan. As identified by NGT, the DEP will be based on seven thematic areas unless there is any other specific environmental factor in the district that needs to be covered as part of DEP. The scope of work is outlined in following areas: 1. Waste Management Plan which covers solid waste, plastic waste, C&D waste, biomedical waste, hazardous waste, e-waste management; 2. Water quality management plan; 3. Domestic sewage management plan; 4. Industrial wastewater management plan; 5. Air quality management plan; 6. Mining activity management plan; and 7. Noise pollution management plan. District Magistrates in association with State Environment Departments may initiate data acquisition from concerned local agencies by sharing file.