In a bid to provide a major boost to the development of eco-friendly industries and ease of doing business in Punjab, the state government in pursuant to office order 273 dated 04^th May 2021 has decided to exempt DG set(s) having total capacity of 1 MVA (Mega Volt Amp) or less provided/being provided for setting up of the Telecom Towers from the purview of consent management of the Board subject to the following conditions:

1. The telecom company shall apply and obtain auto generated ‘one-time registration as required in case of white category units.
2. DG set(s) shall be equipped with acoustic enclosure & adequate stack height as per the norms of MoEF & CC/CPCB.
3. Spent oil being generated from the DG set(s) shall be given to the authorized recycler and the telephone company shall file annual return for its disposal as per the HoWM Rules, 2016 (as amended).

Under Section 21 of the Air (Prevention &Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 respectively, “any industry, operation or process or an extension and addition thereto, which is likely to discharge sewerage or trade effluent into the environment or likely to emit any air pollution into the atmosphere will have to obtain the Consent”

There are two types of the Consent i.e. Consent to Establish (CTE), and Consent to Operate (CTO).

• Consent to Establish: This consent is required to be obtained before establishing any Industry, Plant, or Process. The Consent to Establish is the primary clearance.
• Consent to Operate: Once the Industry, Plant, or Process being established according to mandatory pollution control systems, the units are required to obtain consent to operate.

The industrial units/projects covered under the white Category are exempted from Consent Management for obtaining CTE and CTO under Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 Any other units covered under Red, Orange and Green category are not exempted vide the notification. Initially the industries which falls under white category of industries and have installed DG set of capacity more than 10 KVA and less than 1 MVA, were also required to CTE/CTO only for the DG set.

This is one more positive step as its result in reducing the approvals to be obtained for the business along with ensuring safety of the Environment. The initiative would further strengthen the industrial base in the state besides acting as a pivot to attract more investments.

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LLM, BA LLB Meghna Anand