The consent fee being charged by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) for setting up new industries and operating them has been revised upwards with immediate effect.

According to official sources in MPCB, the Government feels that industries in the state are growing at a fast pace leading to various issues like air, water, noise and other kinds of pollution. To monitor this there was a dire need for stringent control and hence the revision in the fee.

There was also an increased expense on manpower and equipment needed for monitoring these growing industries, the sources said.

Periodical inspection of industries for compliance is inevitable and the same may not be available with the present funds received in the form of fee which was very meagre. Hence it has been decided to substantially increase the fee, they said.

In addition, mining fee was based on the investment in land, building, plant and machinery. However it has been observed this industry gives rise to lot of pollution and hence it was decided to revise the fee structure of the same.

The consent fee is as follows: Investment less than Rs 10 lakh (Rs 500); Rs 10-60 lakh (Rs 1,500); Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore (5,000); Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore (Rs 15,000); Rs 5-10 crore (Rs 25,000); Rs 11-25 crore (Rs 50,000); Rs 25-50 crore (Rs 75,000); Rs 50-75 crore (Rs 1,00,000); Rs 75-100 crore (Rs 1,25,000). Above Rs 100 crore, it is 0.02 percent of the capital investment.

In addition to this, the mining industry will be levied an additional 0.40 per cent per tonne per year besides the regular consent and operational fee, officials said.

For the municipal corporations, the fee is Rs 1,00,000 and for municipal councils A Grade - Rs 50,000; B - Rs 5,000 and C - Rs 2,000, it was stated.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW