Environment ministry proposes doing away with pollution control permits for ‘white category’ industries

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has brought out two separate draft notifications, notified under the Air Act, 1981, and Water Act, 1974, respectively. The ministry has now sought comments and objections on these notifications within 60 days.

The exemptions proposed in the draft notifications have been brought to give effect to the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Amendment Act, 2024, passed earlier in February, and the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, passed last year. These laws decriminalised many violations under the Air Act, 1981, and the Water Act, 1974, replacing imprisonment with penalties and fines. Further, the Acts also allow the Centre to exempt certain categories of industrial plants from seeking permits.

‘White category’ industries exempted from the CTO and CTE permit regime would have to intimate about their operations to the state pollution control boards through self-declarations, the draft notifications said.

The Central Pollution Control Board had in 2016 re-categorised industries based on the relative pollution potential of industrial sectors. Pollution index scores were worked out on the basis of emissions, effluent discharge, generation of hazardous waste, and consumption of natural resources.

The ‘white category’ was introduced during this re-categorisation while the existing categories – red, orange and green – were given new relative scores. Wind power projects, solar power projects, assembly of air coolers and bicycle assembly are some of the projects and activities that fall in the ‘white category’ that would be exempted from CTE and CTO permits.