Over 700 Hand Screen Printing Factories Closed by Gujarat High Court

AHMEDABAD,GUJARAT : More than 700 hand screen printing factories in the Bherampura area of the city have been shut down following a stern directive from the Gujarat High Court. The court’s crackdown targets factories discharging chemical-laden and polluted water into the Sabarmati river, necessitating immediate action to curb environmental damage.

To address the issue, leaders from the BJP and AIMIM had jointly initiated the construction of a Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at a cost of ₹112 crores. Despite these efforts, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) closed the plant within just 10 months of its operation.

The GPCB conducted four inspections of the CETP plant over the past two months, taking various samples during each visit. Findings revealed that over 600 factories were discharging significant amounts of wastewater into the treatment plants. The inspections uncovered several operational lapses, including the absence of a maintained logbook for plant operations, closure of the tertiary treatment plant, and the presence of waste in large open plots. These violations led to the GPCB’s decision to shut down the CETP plant and instruct factories to cease releasing wastewater into the plant immediately.

GPCB’s stringent directive specifies that no factory is allowed to discharge water into the plant, emphasizing adherence to standard discharge protocols at the CETP plant’s outlet.

This development follows the closure of over 700 factories around the Danilimda-Bahrampura area two years ago due to overcapacity issues at treatment plants and their contribution to Sabarmati river pollution. The CETP, built with a 30 percent state government share, a 50 percent central government grant, and 20 percent funding from the Ahmedabad Hands Screen Printing Association, was intended to mitigate these issues. The plant, commissioned in September 2023, has failed to meet capacity demands, forcing factory owners to shut it down.

Arif Pomchawala, a local industry representative, stated, “The Gujarat Pollution Control Board has issued a notice to close the CETP plant. We will address the authority’s requirements within a few days.”