Maharashtra government checks pollution board's inspection raj

MUMBAI: In a huge relief to industries and business, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has issued a circular to its employees on Thursday informing them that pollution control inspection on factories and other establishments will no longer be done periodically.

Under the new rule, random inspections would be determined by senior officers of MPCB. The new measures are part of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' efforts towards 'ease of doing business' in the state after getting feedback from industry representatives.

The board has listed out three criteria for carrying out these inspections. For instance, industries that pose a higher risk to environment will be marked in red, and they will be subjected to frequent random inspections.

Industries marked in orange pose medium risk to environment, and they will face lesser random inspections than those in the red category .

While the third category is indicated in green, which is seen to offer low risk to environment. For these industries, random inspections would be even less.

Not just the pollution control board, the labour department will also issue a similar circular for random inspections in the next couple of days, said a top state government bureaucrat.

The power to conduct inspections would no longer be with labour inspectors, but would be decided by senior officers. "Industrial units which have a history of committing offences against labourers will face more randomised inspections," said a state government official.