Managing Chemically Contaminated Sites: India’s New 2025 Rules

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has introduced the Environment Protection Rules, 2025 — a major legal framework to tackle the management of chemically contaminated sites across India.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), there are 103 such sites in the country, but remediation work has begun in only 7 locations so far. These sites are legacies of industrial pollution, where hazardous chemicals have seeped into soil, surface water, and even groundwater, posing severe threats to human health, biodiversity, and ecosystems.

The new rules have been notified under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, which was itself born in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Disaster. They aim to:

Identify contaminated sites through district administration reports every 6 months.

Use state-level expert panels to confirm contamination within 90 days and prepare a detailed remediation plan within the next 3 months.

Restrict public access to highly contaminated areas and create awareness in affected communities.

Implement the Polluter Pays Principle, ensuring that industries responsible for contamination bear cleanup costs — with government intervention if polluters no longer operate or lack funds.

Introduce institutional and financial mechanisms to systematically manage remediation.

Challenges remain: radioactive waste, mining-related contamination, and marine oil spills are excluded; and there is no fixed deadline to complete remediation, risking prolonged delays.

If implemented effectively, these rules could mark a turning point in India’s environmental governance — turning neglected toxic hotspots into safer, healthier spaces for people and nature alike.

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