Reforming State Pollution Control Boards

Below are the key solutions (and for reference issues/root causes) identified by you for making things better on the ground by reforming State Pollution Control Boards. Kindly review and share additional specific inputs you may have. Soon we will be sharing this with key stakeholders. Like the circle's role in helping reform many waste management roles in last 12 months, we think this will have significant impact once implemented.

Swachh Bharat Mission

Reforming State Pollution Control Boards - Solutions

1. The working of the state pollution control boards should be redefined and made transparent
2. Their key responsibility areas should reassessed
3. They should be given enough authority to carry out their day to day tasks
4. They should also be given the power to enforce their decisions
5. A dedicated complaint redressal team should be set up in every SPCB
6. They should also be given on-ground functionalities and their performance should be measured on them
7. Before granting any funding from centre related to sanitation, environmental projects, Central Government should demand compliance to a defined set of practices, processes, systems and controls.
8. The findings/work of SPCB should be made available to the public every quarter
9. Each state pollution control board should be asked to define the pollution control steps that it would take in the next one year
10. A proper plan should be submitted by the SPCB on how it would reach out to different parts of the state to reduce pollution
11. The policies/rules made should be closely monitored
12. SPCB should be made accountable to its role and decisions
13. Public should be made aware about the existence and responsibilities of the SPCB in their region
14. Regular audit, performance monitoring as well as maintenance of records should be required by pollution boards
15. There should not be any political interference in the managerial decision making of the SPCBs
16. The chairman of SPCB should be technically qualified and well experienced, knowledgeable to deal with the staff in the interest of the public health and welfare
17. Provision for monthly visits to the existing industries to check the production processes of their manufacturing units to control the feasibility of excess pollution
18. The pollution control boards should also be hauled up for giving licenses to the polluting industries.

State Pollution Control boards - Root Causes

1. State Pollution Control Board works just for the sake of it
2. The functions of SPCB are not well laid out
3. They do not have the power to enforce anything
4. There is a lack of accountability in the SPCB employees
5. The key responsibility areas of the SPCB employees are not clearly defined
6. Complaint redressal mechanism is almost non-existent
7. People are unaware where to contact for redressal of their problem
8. Their role by law is just to make policies and regulate them
9. There is no pressure on SPCB to make their work/findings public
10. It is very easy for them to accept bribes since there is no observing body above them
11. Chairman of the State PCB is usually a political appointee and is mainly involved in raising funds for the party
12. There is a lack of transparency in the functioning of SPCB
13. Ministers and Chief Minister of most states do not demand accountability and set objectives for State Pollution Control Boards.

Issues with State Pollution Control Boards

1. There is a very high degree of lethargy and inefficiency in state pollution control boards
2. Many complaints go unanswered
3. If businesses, citizens go with good ideas, there is no one to hear/accept
4. State Pollution Control Boards are almost non-functional on the ground
5. Pollution data is not made available to the public
6. They accept bribes from the industries and let them play with rules
7. Effective pollution control steps are not taken by SPCB
8. There are many areas within the city where the SPCB never visit at all
9. Policies made by SPCB are rhetoric in nature
10. The monitoring of the effectiveness of the policies is very weak
11. SPCB is an extremely powerful agency but with zero accountability
12. The SPCB's have no calibrated equipment and lack the will to enforce their own guidelines. more