TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In last one year, as many as 700 small and micro industrial units, many in the mining belt, have shut operations after being pulled up by the Goa Pollution Control Board for operating without Consent to Operate under the Air and Water Acts. The notices were in view of directions from the National Green Tribunal issued in May 2013.
The Goa State Pollution Control Board, the regulatory body for granting Consent to Operate under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, has granted nearly 1,683 fresh consents to the industrial units under Green and Orange categories and has renewed Consents of 272 units under Red category from January 1, 2014 till March 1, 2015.
GSPCB chairman Jose Manuel Noronha said that over 700 units, more than half located in the mining belts, have shut operations and hence did not apply for Consent. “With closure of mining activities, the ancillary business also suffered a major setback forcing them to close their operations,” he said. Mining activities in Goa have ceased since September 2012 due to the ban.
These Consents were also granted under Medical Waste (management and handling) Rules 1998, and Hazardous Waste (management and handling) Rules 2000.
Following NGT’s stringent direction with regard to the Consents, the GSPCB issued 2,300 show cause notices from January 2014 to January 2015, of which 1,683 units applied for Consent and were granted the same. Under the Orange category, 1,115 units have been granted Consents, while 568 Consents were granted under Green category.
These units include hotels, eateries, electronic manufacturing units, flour mills, repair shops, canning companies, distilleries, packaging and beverage units, fish meal units, bakeries, metal, wood, cement units, etc.
The Consents under Orange and Green category are basically granted for seven to 19 years, while under Red category there are renewals every two years.
The Board is now in the process of granting Consent to nearly 370 beach-shacks, which also run without consent. Around 15 Consents to Operate were granted to shack operators. “These Consents would now be valid for one year. We give shacks Consents for a period for which Tourism department grants them licences,” Noronha said.
NGT, in its May 8, 2013 order directed pollution control boards across the country to close down all units, including hotels and shacks functioning without the Consents under the Air and Water Acts. NGT in the Wassan Singh vs Punjab case directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and MoEF to take action against units operating without obtaining proper Consent to Operate.
