Team Herald
PANJIM: Categorizing tea stalls and other food carts under the White Category unit, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) will conduct a drive across the State to prepare an inventory of all such units.
The Board has to submit an inventory of White category industries to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), for which the drive to identify such industries will be undertaken.
During its recent meeting, the Board has also decided to impose a one-time processing fee of Rs 3,000 on such units for registration.
White Category industries are the non-polluting units, which are exempted from obtaining ‘Consent to Operate’ under the Air and Water Pollution Act.
The State has over 5,000 industries under Red, Orange and Green categories that have been granted Consent to Operate under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
During the meeting, Member Secretary Shamila Monteiro informed the members that running of a tea stall is a non-categorised activity and hence falls under the White category. She added that all such similar activities i.e running a food cart will also be categorized under the White category.
In 2016, CPCB had directed all the State pollution authorities to undertake fresh classification of the industries and to prepare the inventory of red, orange, green and white category industries.
