PCB endeavouring to get accreditation for labs

To complete process by March

Board’s Member Secretary, Aditya Negi, said the process was underway to get the Shimla and Paonta Sahib-based regional labs accredited with the NABL. He said the staff has been directed to complete the process by March and various procedural formalities were being completed by the staff to obtain it.

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 3

In a bid to enhance its regulatory mechanism, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) was endeavouring to get all its labs accredited from the National Accreditation Board for Calibration and Testing of Laboratories (NABL).

Though the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) had directed the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) to upgrade all its labs as per specifications of the NABL within a stipulated time the state board was yet to adhere to this direction. The NABL is a constituent board of quality control of India and it is a globally accepted body which aims at pursuing organisational excellence.

Only the Parwanoo-based Central laboratory of the board had managed to secure accreditation from the NABL in December last year and it is the board’s only lab to undertake chemical testing in the state. The board has regional labs at Dharamsala, Sundernagar, Shimla and Paonta Sahib.

The board officials were yet to apply to the NABL officials to initiate the process for the other labs. Key issues like preparing documentation of various aspects like quality and procedure manuals, preparing SOPs for various teats, calibration of equipment as well as training of the staff as per 1SO17025/2017 norms are supposed to be fulfilled to obtain this key accreditation.

Board’s Member Secretary, Aditya Negi, said the process was underway to get the Shimla and Paonta Sahib-based regional labs accredited with the NABL. He said the staff has been directed to complete the process by March and various procedural formalities were being completed by the staff to obtain it.

The process also involves equipping the labs with adequate staff who are trained to handle the sophisticated equipment since the board was short of staff it remains to be seen how it would handle this problem.

The NABL accreditation is the need of the hour to ensure that quality testing is undertaken in the labs and they meet standards prescribed by the national level agencies. It will also help in upgrade of the regional labs like Paonta Sahib which caters to the key industrial area of Kala Amb and Paonta Sahib where the problem of air and water pollution has been under the scanner of the NGT.

With funds worth crores being at the board’s disposal owing to the consent fee earned from the state’s industries, it remains to be seen whether the board will successfully manage to upgrade its regional labs and introduce quality testing in the state. The labs were currently battling shortage of technical staff and even testing facility form all 12 parameters of ambient air quality norms notified by the CBCP.