Introduction

Bihar state pollution control board was formed in the year 1974 after the enactment of Water prevention and control of pollution act. The board derives its constitutional validity from Article 252, clause 1. The board is headed by the Chairman and is helped by member secretary. The central office of the board is in Patna. The pollution board, apart from its central office, has two regional offices in Muzaffarpur and Begusrai. The central laboratory and the Research and development centre of the board are also located in Patna.

What are the functions of the board?

The following functions are entrusted with the board –

• Making programmes for prevention, control, and abatement of pollution and improving the overall quality of water and air in the state.
• Advising the state government with matters pertaining to the environment and also helping the state government in making environment policies and rules.
• Collecting statistical data and disseminating the same for government and general awareness.
• Collaborating with central pollution board to implement central laws and direction given by the central government.
• Creating policies of grant of consent to establish and operate in collaboration with the central pollution board.
• Laying down standards for emission of pollution by industrial units.
• Inspection of treatment plants of industries and collecting samples from the waste discharged by industries, whether gaseous or liquid.
• Evolving methods and techniques to combat pollution and to make methods so that liquid waste produced by industries can be used in agriculture after it is treated.
• Advising state government with the location of industries and also relocating of industries away from residential areas.
• Issuing orders and directions to defaulting industries.
• Levy of penalty and ordering closure of industries which are in violation of laws and rules pertaining to the environment. The board first issues a show cause notice to the defaulting industries, and if the answer is not satisfactory, then penalty or closure is ordered.
• The board passes other direction to the industries as it deems fit in order to reduce pollution by the industries.

What are guidelines for consent to establish (CTE), consent to operate (CTO), and hazardous waste management?

Consent to establish

• Consent to establish can be applied online on the web portal of the Bihar pollution board that is bspcb.bin.nic.in along with required documents.
• The authorization is given by the Chairman of the board and prescribed timeline to give consent is 120 days by the board.
• The fee for CTE is 2500 for projects having a total cost less than 25 lakh and 1 lakh for projects costing above 50 crores.
• The project cost includes the cost of machinery, land, and building, pollution control facilities.
• An inspection is done by boards official before grant of consent is given to industries falling under red and orange industry.
• The application of CTE is first scrutinized by Junior environment engineer for any objection and then sent to Member Secretary for inspection and then finally forwarded to the Chairman of the board for a decision.
• The validity of consent to operate is granted for a period of five years and has to be renewed one month before it expires.

Consent to operate

• After consent to establish has been obtained by the industry, then that industry can apply for consent to operate which includes emission consent under the Air pollution act and liquid waste discharge consent under the Water prevention act. Both the consent mentioned have to be applied in two different forms according to the specific needs of the industry.
• The consent to operate can be applied online on the web portal of the board that is bspcb.bih.nic.in
• The consent to establish permission has to be attached with the consent to operate application, and an inspection is conducted by the department official to check whether all conditions have been complied with.
• The time period for processing the application by the board is 120 days.
• After the application has been made, the application is checked by Assistant and Junior environment engineer for any objections, the Junior engineer forwards the application to Member secretary and then to the Chairman of the board for final approval and when the approval is given then the board issues the applicant an ID and a password through which it can check its application status online on the boards web portal.
• For red category industries, the consent has to be renewed every year, and for the orange and green category, it has to be renewed every two years.

Hazardous waste permission

• If an industry uses hazardous chemicals or materials as an input for production or in any process of manufacturing or allied activities, then that industry has to apply for consent to use hazardous material. The consent is granted after seeing the necessary measure taken to collect, store, treat, and transport hazardous waste.
• The permission is granted by the board under the Hazardous waste rules, 2006.
• The permission to apply for consent has to be made offline. By submitting the application in the head office along with necessary documents and also photographs of the storage facility. There is no fee to apply for this consent.
• The time period for the board to give permission after receiving the application is 120 days. And the consent is valid for five years.
• The occupier has to maintain a complete updated record of the hazardous waste handled in form 3 or form 4 before 30th June of the financial year.
• The approval is granted by the Chairman, and the authorization is sent to the registered address of the applicant mentioned in form 1.

What are the documents required for consent to establish and consent to operate?

• A copy of pan card/aadhar card/ voter ID of the directors and partners.
• Land document that is sale/lease deed or the land possession certificate.
• Land change use certificate from concerned authority.
• Detailed project report consisting the total project cost, project details, goods to be manufactured, list of plants and machinery, and the manufacturing process to be adopted.
• Proposed pollution control measures, including the sewage/effluent treatment plant to be established.
• Report on air pollutants to be discharged and control measures that are to be adopted.
• Location map of the industry and the topo sketch of the vicinity highlighting all important landmarks including roads fields and residential areas within 2kms radius.
• Copy of environment clearance report from Ministry of environment/government of India.
• Undertaking regarding the required distance of industry from important landmarks, as stated in the application form available on the web portal of the board.

Documents required for consent to operate (CTO)?

• Pan card/ aadhar card or voter ID of directors and partners.
• Copy of the permission of consent to establish granted by the board.
• Copy of environment clearance permission and undertaking of its compliance.
• The undertaking of the compliance of conditions for consent to establish and copy of bills of machinery purchased to control pollution.