Indore: Controversy over charges for treating effluent water

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Industrial units located in Sanwer Road industrial areas have been asked to install flow metres to measure the quantity of effluent water they are discharging, which is treated by the IMC at its effluent treatment plant. It has been decided that IMC will charge Rs 10 per kilolitre.

This has come as a relief for over 3,000 units as they had been handed over hefty bills, some of them as high as Rs 50 lakh. After getting the huge bills a delegation of the industrialists of Laghu Udyog Bharti (LUB) met IMC commissioner Pratibha Pal on Wednesday and brought the issue to her notice, and she had assured that the matter would be sorted out.

Amit Chawla, secretary of LUB, informed here on Thursday that we have received a communication from the office of executive engineer, Sewage Treatment Plant of IMC informing that IMC has started charging for effluent treatment services @ Rs. 10/- per kilolitre and a flow metre would be installed at the units.

The units were asked to install the metres within seven days or else they would be charged according to the charges prescribed by the MP pollution control board.

Chawla said that there was no logic for sending such high bills to industries for treating waste water as the primary treatment was done at the unit itself and then it was sent to IMC's effluent treatment plant by tankers or pipeline.