E-Paper
Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee to begin digital issuance of consent certificates in a week
The current practice of manually issuing hard copies of the certificate will be reserved only for cases where the applicant specifically asks for them.
In a bid to improve ease of doing business in the city and bring in more transparency, the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC) has decided to begin issuing no-objection certificates (consent) digitally.
The applicants will be able to receive consent from the committee through their registered email ids. The current practice of manually issuing hard copies of the certificate will be reserved only for cases where the applicant specifically asks for them.
Before an industry is established and begins operations, it requires the consent of the CPCC to discharge any effluent (sewage or trade effluent) into a stream or well or sewer or on land, and/or emit air pollutants into the atmosphere.
The consent issued by the CPCC under Section 25/26 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, is known as ‘water consent’ and under Section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is known as ‘air consent’.
Confirming the development, Debendra Dalai, member-secretary, CPCC, said, “Even though our internal processes are online, the consent is issued manually. We plan to start the process of issuing it online to all applicants within this week.”
The manual process takes time as the applicant file moves up for approval and then down the hierarchy after approval. “Now, after the competent authority approves, the consent will be immediately sent to the applicant through their registered email. There will be no lag between grant of approval and receipt of consent certificate,” said Dalai.
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) was roped in to digitise the process. “While the applicants could apply online earlier, too, they were not getting online issuance of consent. So, three months back we started the work on digitising the last step in the process. This will make the entire process transparent,” added Dalai.
The applicants can also track their files as their application moves through the committee’s approval process.
Welcoming the move, Pankaj Khanna, president, Industries Association of Chandigarh, said, “The online issuance of consent form will save a lot of time, energy, and will go a long way to help the beleaguered industry.”
