Govt to colour code industries based on pollution potential

The Environment Ministry has proposed to classify various industrial sectors across India under a three-coloured scheme depending on their pollution potential.
A proposal to classify industries under red, orange and green is among a set of resolutions adopted by a state environment and forests ministers' conference that discussed measures to amend regulations to improve ease-of-doing business while protecting the environment.
The Ministry is also likely to propose initiative which will allow individual units falling under various sectors to earn stars for compliance with environmental norms.
The industrial sectors which will score more than 60 will be categorized as red, those scoring between 30-59 will be orange, 15-29 green and below 15 will be considered as white as they are environment friendly.

"We have decided to re-categorize industrial sector depending on their pollution potential. Earlier, the categorization was not reflecting the pollution potential. This is an important step," Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
The Ministry is also going to do away with renewal or certification of industries on a yearly basis.

"We want to do away with every year renewal of the industries. We have suggested five years renewal for red category, ten years for orange and one time certification for green," he said.
During the conference, a committee was formed which constitutes state representatives and it has been given one month's time.

The proposed scheme will reduce the frequency at which industries currently need to seek approvals for continuing operations.