The Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) has introduced the ‘Online Consent Management System (OCMS)’ for obtaining no objection certificate (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.

“We have recently introduced the online consent management system using which the industries can submit their application online and after upon checking all the requirements fulfilled in the online application we will grant NOC in just one week's time. For Red, Orange and Green industries we are giving NOC for 3, 4, 5 years respectively. Similarly, they can also have the renewal facility online by paying the required renewal fees,” said N Raveendhar, senior environmental scientist at TSPCB.

At present, the TSPCB has issued NOC to over 5000 industries in the state. Of which, about 500 industries relating to bulk drug and other pharma and chemical manufacturing come under the Red category.

As the Telangana state government had introduced the TS-iPass, a new industrial clearance policy, wherein the intended industries will get all their clearances through a single window within just about a week to 15 days time. As part of this initiative, the Telangana Pollution Control Board has also embarked on the innovative online system of issuing permissions, NOCs and renewals of permits using the online consent management system. “Not just pollution clearance permits for industries; we have also formed an environmental clearance committee, wherein its main task is to give fast environmental clearance (EC) for the newly set up industries. Earlier, to get the EC, the industry owners used to go to Delhi and it used to take some times from 2-6 months to get EC clearance. To avoid delay in the granting EC for the new set ups, we have established the environmental clearance committee here in Hyderabad,” informed Raveendhar.

The TSPCB has also established an online grievance system, wherein the complainants can submit their grievances on online. “We have a 24/7 grievance tracking officers, based on the complaints we instantly respond to the concerned persons and resolve the issues with regard to their grievances,” informed the environmental scientist.

However, after bifurcation from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, the TSPCB is facing severe staff crunch. Out of 200 overall posts in the PCB, at least 100 posts are vacant. “We need at least 68 analysts in our laboratories. We have procured most sophisticated equipment by spending about Rs. 10 crore, but we are facing staff crunch both at the middle and lower level categories,” he said.