PANJIM: Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will re-classify industries, wherein non-polluting industries would be categorized as ‘white’ with no requirement of Consent to Operate under the Air and Water pollution Acts. Also, nearly 3000-odd industries under the ‘Green’ category will now be granted one-time consent for the lifecycle of the units. These units had Consent to Operate that had to be renewed every ten years.
The move comes following fresh guidelines issued by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on re-classification of industries into Red, Orange, Green and White categories.
As per the guidelines, the period of the Consent to Operate of the 200-odd red category industries has been extended to five years from the existing two years, while around 1400 orange category industries will enjoy the consent validity of up to 10 years, as against the existing three to seven years.
There are nearly 2000 industries, which are expected to be classified under White category.
Speaking to Herald, GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said the State has 6769 industries under Red, Orange and Green categories that have been granted Consent to Operate under Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Water (prevention and control of pollution) Act. Noronha said the new classification will be based on ‘scores’; that industrial units will be given on the basis of pollution parameters – air, water and hazardous waste.
The proposed classification will be on the basis of a composite score – comprising 40 percent weightage for air pollution, 40 percent for water quality and 20 percent hazardous waste. The parameters will include toxic pollutants, besides the standard basket of particulate matter, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, benzene, ammonia, the pH (to ascertain the level of acidity of water quality), total suspended solids and level of dissolved oxygen.
“Industries that score over 60 will be classified as red, those from 30 to 59 as orange, from 15 to 29 as green while units with less than 15 will be considered under white, requiring no consent to operate,” Noronha said.
