Shimla, 21March
The Himachal Pradesh State Pollution Control Board is simplifying the existing regulating procedure to provide ease of doing business to entrepreneurs. This is under the endeavour of the Central & State government to encourage ease of doing business and as per the State Business Action plan, 2021. The facility for auto generated renewal of consent to operate under Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 through Online Consent Management & Monitoring System (OCMMS) portal http://hpocmms.nic.in/ shall be available to all the green categories industries / projects (irrespective of the scale) subject to certain conditions. All green category industrial units are eligible for the auto renewal of their consent to operate/ consent to operate (expansion)/ RCTO/RCTO (expansion) with maximum validity of 15 years. About 6000 industrial units will be benefitted by this scheme in the State. The auto renewal certificate will be automatically generated by the system instantly on successful submission of the application with required documents. This module will facilitate the green category of industries to file their application through OCMMS and system will issue the RCTO with unique QR code to the industries without any intervention of the State Board officers/officials. The complete business regulation procedure with regard to auto renewal of consent to operate may also be perused at the State Board’s website – hppcb.nic.in.
The units which are interested to avail the service of this mechanism shall have to apply well before the 30th April as the same is last date for the acceptance of the applications for the auto renewal mode. After this date applications will not be accepted through auto renewal mode for the current year and units have to go through the normal mode on the OCMMS portal. Despite the ease in procedure, the State Board shall not let down its guard & will keep an eye on the processes, emissions & discharge of these industrial units in order to ensure preservation of the environment. The State Board will continue to monitor/inspect, take samples of the respective units as per the policies/procedures defined and required for the control of pollution and betterment of the environment.
It is a constant endeavor of the Board to use Information Technology tools for environmental governance and sustainable development, the State Board has shifted completely towards e-governance by moving file work to e-office and application process consents and authorisations to the Online Consent Management & Monitoring System (OCMMS). This has helped strengthen its Environmental Data Bank (EDB) to help quick analysis and retrieval of information. With the help of this portal, the consents and authorisations of the PCB required under various laws and rules can be applied for online by the industry, hotels, hospitals, laboratories, treatment plants, etc, making the entire process online. In the current year, consent application procedure for hospitals and authorisations under Bio medical waste management rules have been initiated online as well. In a bid to promote transparency, the permissions given by the Board and all regulatory action taken is uploaded instantaneously on the Board’s website.
A Lab Module has been developed for water, air, hazardous and solid waste samples, keeping in view the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) requirements for the laboratories of the Board. This module eases the working of Labs as well as ensure transparency and accountability in their functioning. This module also facilitate the industries for their online sampling reports and helps the Board in its tracking, regulation & conservation activities. Virtual and physical workshops have been conducted for medical officers, paramedical staff and management of health care facilities on this new online module throughout the State. In order to facilitate the general public of Himachal Pradesh regarding their complaints pertaining to the environment, H.P. State Pollution Control Board has installed a 24X7 grievance Helpline through toll free No.-08045841000. Apart from this grievances are received and resolved through mobile applications like Sameer, HPSPCB, CM Sewa Sankalp (1100 helpline), as well as email. Continuous endeavor is being made by the Board to provide faster regulation and service to the public.
