The government has undertaken environmental zoning and mapping in all districts, will introduce a self certification for industries to be endorsed by private accredited agencies and proposes to set up a nodal agency under the industries commissionerate to help trading of carbon credits announced under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Industrial Policy document, released last month, states that environmental zoning and mapping exercise has been undertaken in all districts of the state, thereby clearly demarcating environmental zones into distinct categories and defining the pollution control measures required to be implemented for locating industrial units in various zones.
This will help prospective industries to select location of their projects without any confusion. In another step towards environmental safety, the system of periodic monitoring of water and air quality at various locations will be made more strict and rigorous.
At the same time, the government plans to introduce a system of self certification to be endorsed by private accredited agencies. A system of gold pass for expeditious processing of applications for existing units that have followed pollution norms satisfactorily in the past will be put into place.
A mechanism under which a common form for both consent and authorisation will shortly be introduced. Also, the consent and authorisation will be issued for five years instead of the present system of one year. All units have to get several permits renewed every year at present.
It is also proposed that a co-ordinating nodal agency will be created under the industries commissionerate to help trading of the carbon credits announced under the Kyoto Protocol for the benefit of Gujarat industries that want to upgrade their equipment under this programme.
This initiative is likely to bring in international funding programmes for local industrialists. However, this proposal is still in the preliminary stage, as the government, industries and international agencies will have to work out details and modalities in due course.
