The Bulk Drug Manufacturing Association (BDMA) in Hyderabad rejected the claim of Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) of giving online no objection certificates (NOCs) as projected by the board earlier.

Reacting to a story published in Pharmabiz, last month Narayana Reddy, Emeritus President of BDMA, till date, said that the pollution control board has not cleared even a single ‘NOC’ for the bulk drug industries through online. “Forget about the online system, we are still being asked to apply for clearance through paper. Whatever they are claiming of giving online clearance has not yet been implemented and till date not a single red listed bulk drug company is cleared as claimed by the TSPCB,” said Reddy while replying to Pharmabiz.

However earlier TSPCB had said it had introduced the ‘Online Consent Management System (OCMS)’ for obtaining NOC for new industries. The main objective of OCMS is to make functioning of TSPCB more efficient and transparent without giving scope for any corruption while granting permission for newly set up industries.

Going on further, Reddy said that in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, during Kiran Kumar Reddy government, the PCB GO was modified. But that GO is being cancelled and the present government has set up environment clearance committees. “We have no complaints with the present government and the government is very much encouraging and pro-active, but the TSPCB people are claiming something and doing something,” alleged Reddy.

When contacted to the TSPCB officials about the implementation of online Consent Management system, Raveendhar, senior scientist informed that all those industries that are not under red category are being given online NOCs. However, those companies that are coming under the red list are being given NOCs by verifying all details for the first time. “For new industries that are under Red category we are seeking applications on paper first time. However after checking all facilities and once the NOC is given, we feed their entire data online and from next time onwards they can renew it online,” informed Raveendhar.

The TSPCB has also installed about 30 mobile vans to carry the pollutants from the industries and dump it at the common effluent plants. All these mobile vehicles are connected to the GPS system and their movement are being monitored constantly by the TSPCB authorities.