Waste Waters from the Production of Sugar
Between 1,000 and 1,500 mg/l of BOD are present in the combined sugar mill waste water. According to the pollution guidelines, waste water’s BOD must be less than 30 mg/l when it is dumped into inland surface waters and less than 100 mg/l when it is dumped on land.
Sugar industry is main producer of solid waste, water and noise pollution. Environmental quality is at risk when extremely polluted water from sugar industry is discharged untreated.
River Pollution caused through the sugar mills
Among India’s top 17 most polluting sectors, sugar mills and distilleries release water into the Ganga River. After the pulp and paper and chemical industries, the sugar business produces the third most effluent. During the entire cycle, which begins with the cultivation of sugarcane and concludes with the discharge of effluent from the mills, an enormous amount of water is needed. The ecosystem of nearby water bodies, human health, and livelihoods are all significantly impacted by this process, which also affects groundwater levels.
In Uttar Pradesh, the biggest 56 sugar mills generate about 32% of the state’s wastewater and discharge up to 85.7 million litres per day (MLD) into the riverine system.
Court Cases for damaging the Environment
In Uttar Pradesh alone, there have been roughly 23 court proceedings brought against sugar mills for environmental harm since 2014. The Simbhaoli Sugar Mill, which has a 1,000 million-ton-per-day production capacity, was fined 50 million Indian rupees (USD 670,000) in 2014 for contaminating the Ganga River, according to a historic verdict. Due to suspected environmental rules violations at its Ramkola and, Rampur mills, Triveni itself was entangled in multiple court disputes.
Economy through Sugar Industry:
The Indian sugar industry has an annual turnover of more than Rs 80,000 crore, according to the government’s think tank, the NITI Aayog. After Brazil, India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world.
Health risk for the sugarcane workers
A rapidly increasing number of approximately 800,000 sugarcane workers in India’s richest state economy are at risk of more frequent accidents, health risks related to climate change, and unanticipated medical costs, lost work, and wages due to these events because they lack medical insurance, formal documentation as contract workers, and are not held accountable by the sugar factory or the labour contractor for adhering to any labour laws in their relationship with them. Their predicament is typical of the approximately 100 million Indian migrant labourers who are struggling to make ends meet in an era of inflation and inequality.
A Maharashtra study found that of the 13,861 cane cutters in Beed who had undergone a hysterectomy, over 45 percent later experienced mental and physical distress.
When the committee was established in 2019, it was said that hundreds of women were having hysterectomy procedures done merely to save their daily incomes. The committee has identified a number of factors that contribute to the district’s high rate of hysterectomies, including early marriages, a lack of knowledge about women’s health issues, poverty, a lack of pre and post-operative counselling, water scarcity, and a lack of menstrual hygiene and restrooms.
