E-Paper
Now, industries in Chandigarh can apply for environmental consent online
Industrial units can apply for no-objection certificate online at https://chocmms.nic.in/ instead of visiting the office of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee.
For fast disposal of industries’ applications for consent to establish and operate, Punjab governor and UT administrator VP Singh Badnore on Friday launched the “e-consent service”.
With this, industrial units can now apply for no-objection certificate online at https://chocmms.nic.in/ instead of visiting the office of the Chandigarh Pollution Control Committee (CPCC).
Following the approval, the Consent Order can be downloaded from the web portal. The service is available for industries as well as diesel generator owners.
Badnore said this was a huge stride towards transparency in governance and fast delivery of services to citizens. E-consent will not only substantially reduce the application’s processing time, but also allow officials to divert their energy to other productive works, he added.
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’.
Debendra Dalai, member secretary, CPCC, said normally physical copy of the consent was issued after approval of the competent authority, which consumed substantial time of employees, leaving several important areas unattended. “Now, the e-consent will be generated and issued to the units automatically on the approval of the competent authority,” he said.
