What are the important Environmental Laws in the country?  

What are the activities of the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board?  

What do you mean by Water and Air Consent?  Who are required to obtain consent from Board?

Is any fee required for obtaining consent? What do you mean by Consent Fee?

What is the consent and consent renewal fee?

What do you mean by Investment?  

Is there any prescribed form for consent application?

Where the consent application forms are available?  What is the price of application form?  

Whether consent renewal fee has to be paid annually?

What do you mean by Red, Orange and Green category of industries? 

Is there any simplified procedure for obtaining consent to establish for a small scale industrial unit having no pollution potential?  

What do you mean by Environmental Clearance?  Which type of activities/projects required Environmental Clearance?  

How can I protect/conserve Environment?  

What is vehicular pollution and how can I prevent Vehicular Pollution?

How can I prevent Vehicular Pollution?  

Question: What are the important Environmental Laws in the country?

1. The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974

2. The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981

3. The Water (prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977

4. The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and Rules there under

5. The Public Liability Insurance Act, 1981

Question: What are the activities of the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board?

Answer :   Main activities of the Board are:-

Implementation of Water, Air, Cess and Environment Protection Acts/Rules

1. Prevention and control of water pollution and maintaining or restoring the wholesomeness of water by treating sewage, industrial effluents etc., protecting / conserving natural waters to statutory norms and reducing, recycling, reusing and safe-disposing solid wastes conforming to statutory norms.

2. Prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.

3. Protection and improvement of environment and matters connected there with.

4. Conservation and enrichment of natural resources.

5. Issuance of NOC for 30 types of activities/projects requiring Environmental Clearance and Consent for establishment.

6. Conduction of Public Hearing for 30 types of activities/projects requiring Environmental Clearance.

7. Issuance of Consent to operate and periodic renewals.

8. Assessment of Water Cess and collection of Water Cess.

9. Inventorization and management of Hazardous Wastes and issuance of authorization.

10. Inventorization and management of Bio-Medical Wastes and issuance of authorization.

11. Inventorization and management of Batteries.

12. Inventorization and management of Recycled Plastics.

13. Management of Municipal Solid Wastes and issuance of authorization.

14. Environmental Statement.

15. Attending Public complaints.

16. Initiating legal actions against defaulting industries.

Industrial/Institutional Pollution Prevention Programme

1. Inventorization of industries and institutions including industrial estates having pollution potential.

2. Preparation of Action Plan for prevention/control of pollution in streams due to discharge of sewage and municipal solid wastes etc.

3. Preparation of Action Plan for prevention/control of air pollution from industries.

4. Identification of critically polluted areas and preparation of Action Plan.

5. Evolving economically feasible and reliable methods of treatment of sewage, trade effluent, and air pollutant etc.

6. Evolving methods of utilization of sewage and trade effluent and its disposal.

7. Interaction with the Transport Authorities and Police Department for vehicular pollution control and assessment of vehicular pollution.

8. Interaction with the local authorities for noise pollution control and assessment of noise pollution from different sources.

9. Preparation of Environmental Status Report of State and preparation of Action Plan.

10. Promotion of pollution prevention in small scale industries by promoting, adoption of clean technology, better work practices and energy conservation techniques.

11. Preparation of Zoning Atlas for sitting of industries based on environmental consideration in various Districts of the State.

12. Other sector specific programme relating to prevention and control of pollution.

Monitoring of Environmental Parameters

1. Collection of samples and analysis of natural water bodies & lakes, industrial effluent and sewage.

2. Monitoring of industrial emission, ambient air quality, monitoring of urban and industrial premises.

3. Analysis of Soil Samples, Solid Wastes, Hazardous Wastes and Bio-Medical Wastes.

4. Monitoring of noise level and vehicle emission.

5. Monitoring of under ground water quality.

6. Monitoring of chemical accidents.

7. Bio-Monitoring and Task specific monitoring.

Other Activities

1. Training  to NGOs and others.

2. Mass awareness programme.

3. State level co-ordination activities.

4. Organizing administrative and community support to achieve the goals.

5. Computerizing administrative works, improving decision making in the Board, effectively and quickly addressing public grievances and making the Board transparent and accessible by releasing environmental quality information to the public.

Question: What do you mean by Water and Air Consent?  Who are required to obtain consent from Board?

Answer :   Consent means the sanction of the authority of the Board for the discharge of the effluent (sewage or trade effluent into a stream or well or sewer or on land ) or emission of air pollutant into the atmosphere. The consent issued by Board under section 25/26 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 is known as water consent and under section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 is known as air consent

As per section 25 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974, no person shall without the previous consent of the State Board,

1. Establish or take any steps to establish any industry, operation or process, or any treatment and disposal system or any extension or addition thereto, which is likely to discharge sewage or trade effluent into a stream or well or sewer or on land; or

2. Bring into use any new or altered outlets for the discharge of sewage; or

3. Being to make any new discharge of sewage.

And, as per section 21 of the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, no person shall without previous consent of the State Board, establish or operate any industrial plant in an air pollution control area.

Question: Is any fee required for obtaining consent? What do you mean by Consent Fee?

Answer :   Yes Sir. The consent fee means the fees charged by the Board for the grant of consent by the Board.

Answer : 

1. Revised Consent Fee

 

S.No.	Industries having an investment of	Rupees
01	More than Rupees 5000 Crores	35,00,000
02	More than Rupees 2500 Crores but Less than 5000 Crores	30,00,000
03	More than Rupees 1000 Crores but Less than 2500 Crores	25,00,000
04	More than Rupees 500 Crores but Less than 1000 Crores	12,50,000
05	More than Rupees 200 Crores but Less than 500 Crores	6,25,000
06	More than Rupees 100 Crores but Less than 200 Crores	3,75,000
07	More than Rupees 50 Crores but Less than 100 Crores	2,50,000
08	More than Rupees 25 Crores but Less than 50 Crores	2,00,000
09	More than Rupees 10 Crores but Less than 25 Crores	1,75,000
10	More than Rupees 5 Crores but Less than 10 Crores	1,50,000
11	More than Rupees 3 Crores but Less than 05 Crores	75,000
12	More than Rupees 2 Crores but Less than 03 Crores	7,500
13	More than Rupees 1 Crores but Less than 02 Crores	5,000
14	Upto Rupees 1 Crore	2,500

2. Annual Consent Renewal Fee

S.No.	Industries having an investment of	Rupees
01	More than Rupees 5000 Crores	15,00,000
02	More than Rupees 2500 Crores but Less than 5000 Crores	10,00,000
03	More than Rupees 1000 Crores but Less than 2500 Crores	6,50,000
04	More than Rupees 500 Crores but Less than 1000 Crores	3,75,000
05	More than Rupees 200 Crores but Less than 500 Crores	2,50,000
06	More than Rupees 100 Crores but Less than 200 Crores	1,75,000
07	More than Rupees 50 Crores but Less than 100 Crores	1,25,000
08	More than Rupees 25 Crores but Less than 50 Crores	1,00,000
09	More than Rupees 10 Crores but Less than 25 Crores	75,000
10	More than Rupees 5 Crores but Less than 10 Crores	62,500
11	More than Rupees 3 Crores but Less than 05 Crores	50,000
12	More than Rupees 2 Crores but Less than 03 Crores	5,000
13	More than Rupees 1 Crores but Less than 02 Crores	2,500
14	Upto Rupees 1 Crore	1,250

3. Annual consent renewal fee and consent fee chargeable from Local bodies extracting  water from natural resources and discharging effluent into streams shall be as under :-

 

01	Municipal Corporation	Rupees 10,000
02	Municipal council	Rupees 4,000
03	Nagar Panchayat	Rupees 2,000
04	Other	Rupees   1,000

The above Consent fee and Consent Renewal fee is applicable from the date of publication of this notification in the Chhattisgarh gazette i.e. 7th October, 2016.

Note: The above mentioned consent and consent renewal fee should be deposited separately for water consent and air consent.

Answer :  The investment means the amount of capital invested by the industry on capital works including land; machinery; and equipment. This is the gross block (without depreciation) of all fixed assets.

Answer :   Yes Sir, There are separate  prescribed forms of application for obtaining  water consent and air consent. yes Sir, There are separate  prescribed forms of application for obtaining  WATER consent and AIR consent.

Question:  Where the consent application forms are available?  What is the price of application form?

Answer :   The Water consent and Air consent application forms are available at Regional Offices of the Board.  The application form may be obtained from the Regional Offices of the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board on payment of Rs. 15/- for Water consent and Rs. 15/- for Air consent.  The application forms may also be obtain through post by submitting a demand draft in favour of 'Regional  Officer, Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board', payable at either Bilsapur, Durg-Bhilai, Korba, Jagdalpur, Raigarh, Raipur.  The addresses of the Regional Offices of the Board are as follows:-

Answer :  Yes Sir, consent renewal fee has to be paid annually. The application for renewal of the consent should be submitted at least 120 days prior to the expiry of the consent already issued. However, consent renewal may be obtained for more than one year by submitting the application along with consent renewal fee in advance as follows:- 

S. No.	Category	Large	Medium	Small
01	Red	One Year	One Year	One Year
02	Orange	One Year	Two Years	Three Years
03	Green	One Year	Three Years	five Years

• If there is increase in investment, the industry has to pay balance fee as per investment slab prescribed.

•  During consent renewal period, there shall not be any change/ increase in product, production capacity, process, effluent quantity, effluent quality, emission, fuel used  etc.; else fresh consent shall be obtained.

Question: Is there any simplified procedure for obtaining consent to establish for a small scale industrial unit having no pollution potential?

Answer :   Yes Sir. To promote the small scale/cottage/village sector units consent procedure has been simplified. The acknowledgement of the consent application should be treated as water and air consent of the Board. The application should be submitted to District Industries And Trade Centre. The acknowledgement of the application shall be issued by General Manager of District Industries And Trade Centre. No consent and consent renewal fee is required for obtaining consent for such industries. The following small scale industries are covered under this consent procedure:

Categories of Industries in Small Scale Cottage/Village

·          Textile Products & Hosiery (without Dyeing & Printing)

·          Silk Manmade Fiber Hosiery (Without Dyeing & Printing)

·          Wood and Wood Products

·          Paper Product

·          Leather & Leather Products including Footwear (Excluding Tanning, Processing)

·           Mechanical Engineering Excluding Transport Equipments  (Fabrication & Assembly only) Excluding Foundry & Casting.

·          Electrical Machines , Appliances & Apparatus Including Electronics

·          Electronic Equipments & Components

·          Auto Parts, Components & Ancillaries & Garage equipment

·          Bicycle Parts, Tricycle + Perambulators (Excluding any Casting & Foundry Operation)

·          Miscellaneous Transport Equipments

·          Sports Goods

·          Stationary Items

·          Clocks and Watches

·          Others

Question:  What do you mean by Environmental Clearance?  Which type of activities/projects required Environmental Clearance?

Answer :   The clearance accorded by Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India for expansion or modernization of any activity (if pollution load is to exceed the existing one) or a new project listed in schedule I of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 1994 is known as Environmental Clearance.

Following thirty types of activities/projects are required Environmental Clearance:-

1. Nuclear power and related project such as Heavy Water Plants, nuclear fuel complex, rare earths.

2. River Valley projects including hydel power, major irrigation and their combination including flood control.

3. Ports, harbours, Airports (except minor ports and harbours).

4. Petroleum Refineries including crude and product pipelines.

5. Chemical Fertilizers (Nitrogenous and phosphatic other than single super phosphate).

6. Pesticides (Technical)

7. Petrochemical complexes (Both Olefinic and Aromatic) and Petro-Chemical intermediates such as DMT, Caprolactam, LAB etc. and production of basic plastics such as LDPE, HDPE, PP, PVC.

8. Bulk drugs and pharmaceuticals.

9. Exploration for oil and gas and their production, transportation and storage.

10. Synthetic Rubber.

11. Asbestos and Asbestos products

12. Hydro cyanic acid and its derivatives.

13. (a)  Primary metallurgical industries (such as production of Iron and Steel, Aluminium, Copper, Zinc, Lead and Ferro Alloys).

        (b)   Electric arc furnaces (Mini Steel plants).

14. Chlor-alkali industry.

15. Integrated plant complex including manufacture of resins and basic raw material required in the manufacture of paints.

16. Viscose Staple fibre and filament yarn.

17. Storage batteries integrated with manufacture of oxides of lead and lead antimony alloy.

18. All tourism projects between 200m-500 meters of High Tide Line or at locations with an elevation of more than 1000 meters with investment of more than Rs. 5 Crores.

19. Thermal Power Plants

20. Mining Project (major minerals) with leases more than 5 hectares.

21. Highway Projects except projects relating to improvement work including widening and strengthening of roads with marginal land acquisition along the existing alignments provided it does not pass through ecologically sensitive areas such as National Parks, Sanctuaries, Tiger reserves, Reserve forests.

22. Tarred Roads in Himalayas and/or Forest areas.

23. Distilleries

24. Raw Skins and Hides

25. Pulp, paper and newsprint

26. Dyes

27. Cement

28. Foundries (individual)

29. Electroplating

30. Meta amino phenol

Question: How can I protect/conserve Environment?

Answer :  You can protect/conserve environment  by following the tips:-

1. Provide rain harvesting system in your house and relative house

2. Conserve water by Judicious use in various activities

3. Use only Jute Bags/Paper Bags while shopping and not Plastic Bags

4. Compost/Vermi-compost the bio-degradable wastes such as paper, kitchen wastes, garden garbage etc.

5. Never sell or buy endangered species of plants and animals, products made of animal parts

6. Re-use as far as practicable items of daily needs such as shopping bags, waste water etc.

7. Periodically check and tune the engines of your two wheeler/four wheeler

8. Never litter in public places

9. Plant as many trees as possible

10. Use low noise producing instrument/equipment/horn etc.

11. Avoid washing cloths and vehicles in rivers/natural streams/ponds etc.

12. Use LPG/Natural Gas for your daily cooking and avoid using Coal/Oil/Wood

13. Return the used batteries back to the authorized dealers

14. Buy products using ozone friendly chemicals

15. Switch-off power supply as and when not in use

16. Pool with collogues for travel to office and use public transport system as far as possible

Question:  What is vehicular pollution and how can I prevent Vehicular Pollution?

Answer :   Vehicular Pollution due to excessive and uncontrolled exhaust emissions from automobiles has reached alarming rate in many cities and towns. The vehicles are exhibiting upward trends with ever increasing urban population and industrialization.  "AS A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN OF INDIA, AWAKE, KNOW ABOUT THIS MONSTER AND DO YOUR BEST TO SAFEGUARD YOUR HEALTH".

FACTS

1. The major pollutants from automobiles are Carbon Monoxide, un-burnt Hydro carbons, Oxides of Nitrogen, Lead and Particulate Matter.

2. Petrol driven vehicles emit mainly Carbon Monoxide, Un-burnt Hydro  carbons and Lead.

3. Diesel driven vehicles emit mainly Oxides of Nitrogen, Particulate Matter and Un-burnt Hydrocarbons.

4. Our body requires about 23 Kg of air a day to sustain its requirement for Oxygen.  Imagine if this 23 Kg of air is much polluted, how you are going to suffer.

5. Drivers, Traffic Police, Pedestrians and the people residing by roadsides are most affected by vehicular pollution.

6. From the exhaust pipe of the vehicle (i) Black smoke indicates more Carbon Monoxide (ii) White smoke indicates more un-burnt Hydrocarbons (iii) Blue smoke indicates proper tuning

7.  Controlling pollution within limits also saves your fuel bill.

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF POLLUTANTS

1. Reduction in Oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, thus badly affecting body resistance towards infections and diseases.

2. Breathing problems, Impairments of vision, Dizziness, Headache, Dry-cough, Sore-throat and Chest pain etc.

3. Irritation of eyes, nose and lungs.

4. Lung cancer in long term exposures.

5. Liver and Kidney disorders.

6. Abnormalities in fertility and pregnancy.

7. Gastrointestinal damage and damages to vegetation, animals, monuments and buildings etc.

STATUTORY VEHICULAR EMISSION STANDARDS

Section 115(2) of The Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 specifies the following standards.

PETROL VEHICLES

1. Idling Carbon-monoxide for all 2 & 3 wheeled vehicles shall not exceed 4.5% by volume.

2. Idling Carbon-monoxide for all 4 wheeled vehicles shall not exceed 3% by volume.

DIESEL VEHICLES

The maximum smoke density should not exceed 65 Hartridge Smoke Units (HSU) on free acceleration.

PENALTY

Under the above Act, using vehicles in unsafe conditions is punishable under section 190(2).  Failure to comply with these standards shall be punishable for the first offence with a fine of Rs.1000/- and any subsequent offences with a fine of Rs.2000/-

YOUR EFFORTS

You can help to control pollution.  As a citizen or a vehicle owner, it is your responsibility to control pollution by observing the following TIPS:-

1.  Service your vehicle regularly.

2. Pay regular attention to engine tuning, cleaning of spark plugs and fuel injection systems.

3. Adjust carburetor to deliver the correct Air-fuel mixture.

4. Drive the vehicle as smoothly as possible at constant speed.  Avoid frequent and needless application of clutch and brakes.

5.  Periodically change the engine oil as recommended.

6. Keep the tyre pressure up to the standard as prescribed.

7. Switch off the engine on the red light and intersections if the waiting time is more than two minutes.  Minimize unnecessary idling of engine.

8. Use the unleaded (green) petrol in the vehicles designed for it or fitted with catalytic converters.

9.  Do not overload the vehicle.

10. Do not loosely cap your fuel tank.

11. Get the vehicle checked for emission at regular intervals.

12. Use unadulterated fuel (Please note that in all the petrol bunks filter paper is made available free of cost to customers on demand, if they wish to satisfy them selves of the quality of fuel - A drop of unadulterated petrol does not leave any stain on filter paper).

13. Follow manufacturers instructions for vehicle maintenance.

14. Unless necessary do not take out vehicle.

15. If possible, share transport.

16. Plant as many trees as you can.

17. Educate others about vehicular pollution.