DPCC: Going a long way to sustain the industries and environment simultaneously.
Industrialization and urbanization, both form a combination as strong as a weapon to mankind. Both of these phenomena have been bought to the knowledge of mankind within this century, but the pace with which these phenomena have been going word is nothing but exceptional.
The inches of Earth are being eaten up at a rapid pace, with large scale of industries and civilizations blocking the land masses. All of these come with luxuries at the disposal of us people, but on the expense of what? On the expense of the peace our planet Earth came with, the unexpected and untouched bits of nature, now stand exposed to the large-scale industrialization and urbanization.
Something had to be done for this, and that too, soon.
The concern, as it may seem, is how does this industrialization affect the environment?
What needs to be understood is, it’s not the industrialization that is harmful to the environment, rather, it is the byproducts of these industries, which are the prime element of air, water and soil pollutants, that cause harm to the environment. The huge mass of waste, including plastic waste, metal scrap, hotel waste, hospital waste, factory waste, battery waste, solid waste that is universal in almost every other locality is the prime reason of our environment being polluted and getting degraded with each passing day.
With growing awareness among the masses regarding the ill effects of heavy waste production and the mismanagement of industrial waste, arose the need for regulations which could help relieve the stress from the environment of this heavy waste load. In order to reduce the waste, we cannot close the industries, factories or hotels which are the backbone of the economic infrastructure of our country. All of this is a national necessity, without which our country cannot survive economically. Therefore, allowing the operations of industries, factories and other necessary units, waste management seems to be the only visible solution that can help to cure and save our environment.
The emergence and formation of DPCC
With the rise of industries and other manufacturing units, pollution is also increasing and harming our environment intensively. To protect the environment from pollution, some environmental norms have come into existence for each individual units, may it be for industries or hospitals or banquet halls so as to allow them to work by following the required norms of waste management.
With this need in mind, came the constitution of Pollution Control Committees, which play a crucial role in deciding the fortune of the environment as far as the licensing and operations of any and all industries are concerned.
Under the umbrella of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), falls the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), responsible for providing technical services to the ministry of the Environment and Forests, and at the same time, it acts as the regulating agency for the state committees of various states throughout India, just like Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), the acting pollution control committee for the national capital territory of India, Delhi.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee has been reconstituted on 14th June 2002 and acts as a regulatory body which is responsible for implementation of various Environmental and Pollution Control Laws enacted by the Parliament. It states under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, that every industry, hospitals or eating houses which are likely to discharge sewerage or trade effluent into the environment or any air pollutants in atmosphere are required to obtain consent from the State Pollution Control Board i.e. the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (in case of Delhi). A legal obligation, which we call as DPCC Consent is required to be applied through online portal of DPCC.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee holds the responsibility to overlook and regulate all the industrial functionalities going in and around the Nation Capital Territory, Delhi. In layman’s terms, DPCC acts as the regulating authority to give consent of operations and set regulations and limits of pollution to be emitted by the industries in Delhi.
The key highlights of DPCC acts illustrate how all the powers and functions of the CPCB stand embodied to the state bodies (DPCC in case of Delhi) and hence, DPCC stands in authority to make any and all key decisions that may affect the functioning of operating an industry in Delhi, and the way it may affect the environment.
DPCC Acts & Rules
There are different Pollution Control acts and rules for different categories of waste generation. The key acts and rules stand briefed as below:
- Bio-medical Waste Management Rules, 2016
- E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2016
- Hazardous and Other Waste (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016
- Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016
- Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016
- Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016
All the different types of waste are categorized into different kinds. These rules illustrate the norms to be followed by each unit as a part of their duty for protecting the environment from pollution.
It is now mandatory for establishing any industrial units, eating house, hospitals, shopping malls and other required units to obtain Consent from the pollution department before starting with the unit construction. Various factors such as the quality of emission, quality of effluents, types of hazardous wastes generated and the consumption of resources are taken into consideration before classifying industries.
DPCC Categorization of Industrial Sectors
- RED CATEGORY – Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index Score of 60 and above
- ORANGE CATEGORY – Industrial Sectors Pollution Index Score of 41 to 59
- GREEN CATEGORY – Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index Score of 21 to 40
- WHITE CATEGORY – Industrial Sectors having Pollution Index Score including and up to 20
The State Pollution Control Committee grants DPCC Consent to industries covered under red category for 5 years. To industries covered under DPCC orange category industries, the consent is granted for 10 years and for green category industries, it is granted for 15 years.
How excessive pollution can be controlled?
Additional norms for controlling pollution mandated by DPCC are:
- For controlling the water from being polluted, DPCC mandates the owners of industrial units or other units to get a Water Treatment Plant in their unit.
- To control the air from getting polluted, Chimneys are to be placed at every air polluting industries.
- Similarly for Plastic Waste management, as per DPCC it is the prime responsibility of Producers, Importers and brand owners who manufactures or sale plastic sachet or other plastic packed products to collect the same amount of waste generated after its intended use and to establish a system for collecting back the plastic waste.
All the waste has its own management system which allows less of pollution to get generated. Therefore, permitting the country to breathe and live for long requires all the units generating waste to get DPCC Registration.
(The information mentioned above in the article are presented by the partners of EAdvisors Infotech LLP and all the necessary information and facts, though found rarely, has been prescribed in this article and stands at the disposal of the readers variably and can be used for the benefit of any and all personnel and institutions)
