The Ministry of Textiles has raised concerns over an Environment Ministry's proposal to mandate almost all the textile units to reduce their effluent discharge to zero. Outgoing Textiles Secretary, S K Panda has written a letter to the ministry saying that the proposed standards are "too stringent" and it may lead to several textile units closing their operations.

The proposed standards by the Environment Ministry seeks to lay down zero liquid discharge for textile processing units where water discharge is greater than 25 KLD per day. Panda has said in his letter that the domestic processing industry is largely unorganised and consists of small and medium units and the proposed norms are stringent in terms of capital investment and it would also have high recurring expenditure. He has asked the ministry to implement norms in a phased manner.

The Textiles Ministry has held several meetings with the industry representatives, textile research associations and Indian Institute of Technology on the issue and a committee has been formed to study the existing technologies of effluent treatment. Panda said that in the short-term best available technology can be introduced and for the long-term R&D would be pursued for developing cleaner and more cost effective options. Texmin.nic.in