Thursday, 28 February 2013

Gurgaon industrialists demand revision of new pollution norms



GURGAON: Industrialists in Udyog Vihar are seeking a revision of the new pollution control norms, which were announced earlier this year. The pollution board’s new move to make consent-application grant more convenient for the industry comes with a caveat of heavy penalty slabs for defaulters. The issue was raised again at a seminar on pollution control, organized for an interaction between industry owners and the senior officials of the district pollution board.

“The pollution norms need to be reviewed keeping with the changing technology and the changing times,” said an industrialist from Udyog Vihar. According to the new policy of the board, industry owners can now submit applications for their annual consent-to-operate certificates on the department’s official website. Under the new rules, those failing to meet deadlines might now be charged a penalty of 50-100% extra on the original consent fee, which ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1,50,000 annually.

“We have urged the Haryana State Pollution Control Board to withdraw the penalty imposed for late submission of applications. Lack of appropriate awareness might also cause delay in some cases, and this needs to be addressed,” said a representative of the Gurgaon Industrial Association, which had organized the recent pollution seminar to get the community acquainted with the new rules.

The pollution board has only recently launched its ‘online consent management and monitoring system.’ According to the website, over 1600 industries from across the region have registered with the new system, and around 384 consent applications are pending for approval.


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