In relief to the industries and institutions, the Madhya Pradesh government has substantially reduced the fees for obtaining various consents from the MP Pollution Control Board (MPPCB), a senior official said on Thursday.
The decision was taken to promote Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), said the state environment department's principal secretary and MPPCB chairman Aniruddh Mukherjee.
"Based on feedback, the environment department has reduced the consent, authorization and registration fees liable to be paid for obtaining clearances from the pollution control board to the tune of 40 to 50 per cent, and also simplified the procedure," he told PTI.
To promote EoDB, the department has taken many initiatives after holding meetings with industrial associations and representatives of industries at Bhopal in October 2021 and Indore in December, he said.
A committee was also set up by the MPPCB to demonstrate its application software and remove the glitches in any, Mukherjee added. The committee met thrice with IT experts, industrial associations and industry representatives in October-November at Bhopal and Mandideep in Raisen district and implemented the suggestions recently, he said.
After examining the fees charged by neighbouring states such as Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the department made the fee structure comparable and more rational, he said.
The board of directors of the MPPCB has also decided to grant deemed consent through a computerised system if new applications for Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate are pending for more than 30 days, Mukherjee said.
This would enable quicker setting up of new industrial units and boost employment opportunities besides reducing costs for industries, he added.
With PTI inputs.