Norms eased to attract investors

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 11

In order to ease cumbersome permission procedures, the state government has decided to do away with the practice of field inspection and obtaining NOCs under water and air pollution Acts from panchayats for setting up of green and orange category industries.

A notification in this regard was issued by RD Dhiman, Additional Chief Secretary (Health, Personnel and Environment Science and Technology) yesterday. The entire exercise is aimed at creating an investor-friendly environment so that industry bigwigs are encouraged to make investment in the state, which in turn would help generate employment opportunities.

However, the condition of seeking the nod of the panchayat for a red category industry still remains to ensure that there is no environmental degradation in the area where it has to come up. The move to relax the conditions has been initiated ahead of the Global Investors Meet, scheduled to be held in Dharamsala in November.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to be there for the mega event for which Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has held road shows and interaction with corporate bigwigs, both in India and abroad, including Germany and Dubai.

“This has been done to facilitate investors whose projects are often delayed for want of no objection certificate from the panchayats concerned where the industry or project is to come up,” said Dhiman.

He said following this notification, the green and not-so-polluting orange category industries will be saved from the need of obtaining a NOC for consent to establish and consent to operate under Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974.

Government officials cite the unnecessary delays in getting NOC from the concerned panchayat as one of the reasons for delay in projects being completed and the investors being forced to surrender these. “At times, there is unreasonable resistance to the project by the local panchayat and villagers, which would, otherwise, herald economic prosperity,” said an official.

The notification will also save investors from the need for getting a field inspection done for consent to establish venture under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981 and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974. “Single window applications will be scrutinised to assess pollution control measures only and there shall not be any site suitability assessment during processing of such cases,” the notification reads.

For green & orange category industries

• The government has decided to do away with the practice of field inspection and obtaining NOCs under water and air pollution Acts from panchayats for setting up of green and orange category industries.
• However, the condition of seeking the nod of the panchayat for a red category industry still remains to ensure that there is no environmental degradation in the area where it has to come up.