Jammu , Jan 31: The Government is contemplating to bring the State Pollution Control Board under the ambit of Public Service Guarantee Act (PSGA) to facilitate the stakeholders and eradicate corruption.
 The information was given by the Minister for Forests and Environment, Mian Altaf Ahmad, here today while chairing a meeting of the officers of Pollution Control Board.
 The Minister said that Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is keen to extend the PSGA to the Pollution Control Board in a bid to make its services time bound. He said that the Government move aims at to facilitate the stakeholders who need clearances from the board for opening industrial and other units.
 He said that this would also help in enforcing transparency and accountability in the working of the Board.
 Reviewing the functioning of the Board, the Minister asked the authorities to   intensify checking and ensure that the hospitals and industrial units are properly disposing the hazardous waste. He asked the Board to pay special attention towards the proper disposal of bio-medical waste in the big hospitals and take strong action against those found violating the pollution control norms.
 Regarding the industrial units, particularly those using hazardous chemicals, the Minister underlined the need conducting regular inspections and see whether the units are properly disposing the hazardous waste generated during the manufacturing process. He directed for taking stringent action against those industries found littering the waste in the vicinity or storing the same for prolonged period.
 The Minister also directed to intensify ant-polythene drive and strict action against those promoting its use. He asked them to take help from district administration, Municipal Authorities and Tourism department to enforce the ban on the use of plastic bags.
 The chairman SPCB informed the meeting that district office buildings at Samba and Kathua have been completed, while the land for construction of such buildings has been acquired at Pulwama, Budgam and Udhampur districts.
 The Minister desired completion of all these buildings in a stipulated time frame to make the offices of the board functional. 
 The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary Forest, Shantmanu, Chairman, SPCB, Lal Chand, Member Secretary SPCB, Arun Kumar Tikku, Secretary Technical Forest, Dr. Ashok Kumar, Regional Directors, PCB Showkat Chowdary and Ali Muhammad Dar.

Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 1 Feb 2012 00:00:00 IST