Central Pollution Control Board has released new directions, dated 2nd November, 2018 for State Boards to streamline the process of obtaining Consent under Air Act and Water Act for establishment of new industries.
As per Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, all industries falling in Category A and B of Schedule, are required to obtain Clearance from Ministry of Environment & Forests or State level EIA authority. Consent to establish (CTE) under Air and Water Act has similar condition to the EIA Clearance. CPCB in its earlier direction dated 2/2/2017 exempted such industries from obtaining CTE.
However, the recategorization of industries in Red, Orange, Green and white category by CPCB and granting the power to State Boards to categorise the non-categorised/new industries has led confusion as different states are employing different criterias. Also, the State Boards have raised demand to be involved in the grant of Environment Clearance. In the view of these circumstances, CPCB has issued following directions:
- EC will be deemed as Consent to establish and it will be a one-step process. State Boards will be involved in the process.
- State Boards will issue an expanded list of White and Green category industries from uncategorised and new industries, if any, within one month.
- State boards will conduct random inspections of various industries for risk assessment and compliance verification. A mechanism will be developed by Boards for this purpose.
Click here for the official direction by CPCB.
