Industry to get Consent to Establish for five yrs now

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 30

To simplify various formalities for industrial units, the Himachal Pradesh Pollution Control Board has decided to issue them Consent to Establish for five years instead of the mandatory annual renewal.

The decision was taken at the meeting of the HPSPCB chaired by Kuldeep Pathania yesterday. In case, any industrialist is keen to apply for a period of less than five years, that option will also be available to investors. The decision is likely to benefit the industry as it will be saved from seeking the annual renewal of Consent to Establish.

Pathania revealed that the board had also approved the auto-renewal of Consent to Establish based on self-certification by an applicant.

It was informed that a total of 1,026 Consent to Establish had been issued to industries under the provisions of Section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, since March 1, 2016 to June 21, earlier this month.

As per the government notification, the board has also decided to regularise the services of the contractual appointees who have completed five years of service on March 31, 2016. Accordingly, the board has regularised the services of 11 contractual and daily wage appointees.

The board has also approved enhancement in the pay by 50 per cent of Grade Pay of contractual employees appointed by the board against the Central Pollution Control Board funded project ‘National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme.’

It has also approved the annual report for 2015-16 providing the details of the works performed by the board during the last financial year.