NEW DELHI: The Centre has issued two gazette notifications that remove the need for dual permissions - obtaining environmental clearance (EC) and consent to establish (CTE) for setting up new industries. Industries that have taken EC will not be required to take CTE, the union ministry of environment, forest and climate change said in a statement on Thursday.
Non-polluting, white-category industries will also not be required to take both consent to establish (CTE) and consent to operate (CTO) from state pollution control boards.
“The Government of India has accepted long-standing demand of industry to remove dual compliance of Environmental Clearance (EC) and Consent to Establish (CTE) for setting up of new industries. Now, non-polluting white category industries will not be required to take CTE or Consent to Operate (CTO) at all. The industries who have taken EC will not be required to take CTE. This will not only reduce compliance burden, but also prevent duplication of approvals” the statement said, citing the two notifications issued on November 12 under the Air Act and Water Act.
The notification effectively integrates these two approvals and a Standard of Procedure has also been issued to take into account the issues that are considered during the CTE process, in the EC itself. “State Pollution Control Boards will be consulted during EC process. Further, the CTE fee shall be required to be paid by the industry, so that there is no loss of revenue to the States,” the statement added.
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies 39 sectors under the white category sectors including assembly of air coolers and conditioners, repairing and servicing; assembly of bicycles, baby carriages and other small non-motorizing vehicles; bio-fertilizer and bio-pesticides without using inorganic chemicals; diesel pump repairing and servicing (complete mechanical dry process); electric lamp (bulb) and CFL manufacturing by assembling only; electrical and electronic item assembling (completely dry process; engineering and fabrication units (dry process without any heat treatment / metal surface finishing operations / painting); fly ash bricks/ block manufacturing among others.
{{/usCountry}}The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) classifies 39 sectors under the white category sectors including assembly of air coolers and conditioners, repairing and servicing; assembly of bicycles, baby carriages and other small non-motorizing vehicles; bio-fertilizer and bio-pesticides without using inorganic chemicals; diesel pump repairing and servicing (complete mechanical dry process); electric lamp (bulb) and CFL manufacturing by assembling only; electrical and electronic item assembling (completely dry process; engineering and fabrication units (dry process without any heat treatment / metal surface finishing operations / painting); fly ash bricks/ block manufacturing among others.
{{/usCountry}}HT reported on August 5 that MoEFCC, in a draft notification on July 19, has also proposed that certain categories of industries will be exempted from the requirement of prior consent to establish or operate from central and state pollution control boards.
“The environment regulatory architecture has come to increasingly rely on governance by exemption. While flexibility is important to accommodate both economic and environmental imperatives, it needs to be whetted by whether it is exacerbating risks. In order to fully ascertain this, such proposals require careful review by science and society. While social choices need to be informed by scientific assessments, these assessments need to understand that environmental decision making is a not a mere technical exercise. Each exemption means altering the interaction between people, place and project developers, where each aspect deserves a seat at the table,” Kanchi Kohli, independent legal and policy expert had said, referring to the draft notification.
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