Punjab government has announced a slew of relaxations for industry, including extension of validity of statutory clearances without inspection in a bit to encourage investment in the State amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Detailed guidelines to this effect have been issued by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), which finalised the relaxations at a recently held meeting.
According to PPCB chairman S.S. Marwaha, the Board has extended the validity of consent to establish, operate, authorization, registration and any other mandatory regulatory clearances upto June 30, 2020, in view of the COVID-19 crisis. “The validity of the said clearances has also been further extended upto March 31, 2021, with certain stipulations on submission of application without conduct of any inspection by the Board,” he said in a statement.
“In order to ensure the participatory regulatory compliance of the environmental regulations, the industries which were operating without the consent of the Board have been given time upto December 31, 2020 to apply for obtaining clearances under the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS),” said Mr. Marwah, adding that “they can do so with exemption to deposit the consent fee prior to November 1, 2018 and payment of one-time notional fee of ₹5,000.”
Meanwhile, Principal Secretary (Science, Technology and Environment) Alok Shekhar said these initiatives would immensely assist the industry in completing their regulatory compliances and will enhance the regulatory regime by the small-scale industries during these trying circumstances.
(With PTI inputs)
