A LOT CAN HAPPEN OVER COFFEE

64.  A LOT CAN HAPPEN OVER COFFEE

I like the tag line of Café Coffee Day simply because it transforms the humble cup of coffee into an event pregnant with a myriad possibilities limited only by ones imagination.

Which brings me to the point I wish to make about the recent Direction of the bumptious Central Pollution control Board ( CPCB) of India, wallowing in its own self importance.  And why shouldn’t it ?  After all its Parent Ministry the MOEF (originally started off as the Ministry of Environment & Forests) is now derisively called the Ministry of Enjoyment and Fun by several of its own denizens.

The CPCB has promulgated new Rules with respect to quality of treated water from Sewage Treatment Plants ( STPs) across the length and breadth of India – From Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Assam to Gujarat or vice versa depending on which way your head is screwed on.  It says, and I am not joking, that Ammonia Nitrogen ( NH4-N) and Total Nitrogen in treated water from an STP shall be limited to 5 and 10 mg/L respectively and not vice versa.  I am having some enjoyment and fun from this term vice versa.  I love it.

Now, the new Rule also gives a grace period of a full 5 Years for existing STPs to tremble and obey and comply with the new norms with respect to Nitrogen and its compounds.  Why Five years ?  Well we all know how the mind of  Babudom  works :

- Do we not have Five year plans from the Nehruvian era ?

- Do we not have Governments which last for Five years ?  ( More or less)

- Is Five not a good Odd number ?

- Is Five not a Prime Number ?

- Is Five not half a decade ? 

- Is Five not Fu”nf in German ?

A Lot can happen over Five years in India  !

Well a Babu will be a Babu and will continue to be a Booboo.  Neither time nor tide has been able to change his inherent DNA.

And my serious question after all the fun and enjoyment, and rolling on the floor is over is simply this :

If the threat of Nitrogen to the Environment is really as serious as it is made out to be, why give Five full years for corrective action ? Shouldn’t it be an imperative and  the Topmost  Priority of the CPCB and the MOEF to have it in place ASAP ?  It all looks like a big joke to me from the jokers having fun and enjoyment at the expense of the common citizens of India.

It reminds me of an old print Advertisement in one of the Env. Magazines :

There is a pall of dense smoke hanging over the entire page.  And a forlorn  balloon which says in a voice almost choking “ If it is the man from the Dept. of Environment, tell him I can’t see him now”. Well said -  Avoid these folks like the Plague !

Dr. Ananth S Kodavasal                                                                         April 16, 2016