Bhubaneswar: To clean up the air, the Odisha Government on Monday launched a ‘Star Rating’ system for industries.
This first-of-its-kind transparency initiative in the state will categorise industries from 1 star to 5 stars, being the least compliant and the most compliant to the pollution standards set by the regulator respectively.
Along with informing residents and industries, the programme aims to strengthen the efforts of the Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) to reduce pollution.
“We are committed to serving our citizens better and I am very optimistic about this programme that aims to cut down pollution. The ‘Star Rating’ programme will help the public to find out whether industries in their vicinity are fair in their environmental compliance and empower them to strengthen regulations through public participation,” said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
He unveiled a new website, www.ospcb.info, where citizens can access the information.
The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of OSPCB, quoting this initiative as an excellent example of three Ts i.e. Technology, Transparency and Teamwork.
“The pollution board has been collecting data through a Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) on industrial air pollution emissions. It has been an exciting journey working with researchers from the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC India) in distilling this data into star ratings and using it for public disclosure,” said OSPCB Chairman R Balakrishnan.
“The Odisha Star Rating programme is a pioneering initiative that will help citizens identify the sources of pollution in their neighbourhood and cities and empower them to help ensure that industries comply with existing Indian laws,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Professor in Economics and Director of EPIC and the Tata Centre for Development at Chicago (TCD).
“By incorporating real-time information on emissions, this programme marks the Odisha government as a global leader in pollution regulation. Further, this type of partnership between governments and university researchers is at the vanguard of environmental enforcement by marrying frontier research on what works with the political realities of what is feasible,” he added.
While the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board worked with researchers from EPIC-India and others to launch a similar programme last year, the Odisha initiative is the first in India to utilise continuously monitored emissions data captured in real time from major industrial plants.
Forest and Environment Minister Bijayshree Routray, Industries Minister Anant Das, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, Development Commissioner-cum-Chairman R Balakrishnan and ACS Forest and Environment Suresh Mahapatra were present, along with delegates from University of Chicago (EPIC India) and representatives from 20 industries of Odisha were also present.
