TAMIL NADU ENVIRONMENT AMENDMENT ACT 2020 – 2021

Introduction:

The Government of Tamil Nadu constituted the Tamil Nadu Prevention and Control of Water
Pollution Board, vide G.O.No.340, Health and Family Welfare Department dated 19.02.1982,
under Section 4 (1) of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (Central Act 6).
The notification was issued in the Tamil Nadu Government Gazette on 27th February 1982 and
the Board came into existence on the same day. Subsequently after framing of the Tamilnadu
Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1983, the Board was renamed as Tamil Nadu
Pollution Control Board (TNPCB). The TNPCB functions under the overall administrative
control of Environment and Forests Department. The Board comprises of Chairman, Member
Secretary, five officials to represent the State Government, five persons to represent the local
authorities, three non-officials to represent the interests of agriculture, fishery or industry or trade
and two persons to represent the companies or corporations owned by the State Government. 2.0

Acts and Rules:

The TNPCB is a regulatory body which enforces the provisions of the Water (Prevention and
Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, besides the following Rules and Notifications made there
under.

 The Tamil Nadu Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1983

 The Tamil Nadu Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules, 1983

 The Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986

 The Fly Ash Utilization Notification ,1999

 The Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000

 The Batteries (Management and Handling) Rules, 2001

 The Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006

 Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989.

 The Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016

 The Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016

 The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016

 The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

 The E-Waste Management Rules, 2016

 The Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, 2016

 The Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 2019 The Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Cess Act, 1977 which was earlier enforced by Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board
has been repealed following the implementation of Goods and Services Tax, since 01.07.2017.

Organisational Setup:
The organizational structure of the TNPCB is three-tier-system, consisting of Head Office, Seven
Zonal Offices and 38 District Offices with a sanctioned strength of 998 staff. The Head Office is
located at Chennai. The Seven Zonal Offices are headed by the Joint Chief Environmental
Engineers (Monitoring) and the 38 District Offices are headed by the District Environmental
Engineers. Apart from this, there are two flying squads headed by Environmental Engineers each
one functioning at Erode and Tiruppur. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has also
established 16 Laboratories (8 Advanced Environmental Laboratories and 8 District
Environmental Laboratories) for monitoring the industries, water bodies and the ambient air
quality of the State.

Functions:

The TNPCB implements the provisions of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act,
1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The main functions of the
TNPCB as per Section 17 of the above Acts are as follows:

 To plan a comprehensive programme for the prevention, control and abatement of pollution of
streams and wells besides air pollution in the State and to secure the execution thereof ;

 To advise the State Government on any matter concerning the prevention, control or abatement
of water and air pollution;

 To inspect sewage or trade effluents, works and plants for the treatment of sewage and trade
effluents and to review plants specifications or other data relating to plants set up for the
treatment and the system for the disposal of sewage or trade effluents;

 To inspect air pollution control areas at such intervals as it may think necessary, assess the
quality of air therein and take steps for the prevention, control or abatement of air pollution in
such areas;

 To collaborate with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in organizing the training of
personnels engaged or to be engaged in programmes relating to prevention, control or abatement
of water and air pollution and to organize mass education programme relating thereto;
 To encourage, conduct and participate in investigations and research relating to problems of
water pollution and prevention, control or abatement of water pollution;

 To establish or recognize laboratories to enable the Board to perform its functions

efficiently, including the analysis of samples of water from any stream or well or of samples
of any sewage or trade effluents and emission of air pollutants;
 To perform such other functions as may be prescribed or as may, from time to time
entrusted to it by the Central Pollution Control Board or the State Government.

Consent Management:

Tamil Nadu is highly industrialized State and second highest in the registered small and medium
scale industries. To monitor the industries in respect of air and water pollution, mechanism of
Consent to Establish and Consent to Operate the industries is being followed by TNPCB.

The consents are issued to the industries in two stages. In the first stage, ‘Consent to Establish’
(CTE) is issued to the industries, after assessing the suitability of the site before the industries
takeup their construction activities and in the second stage, ‘Consent to Operate’ (CTO) is issued
to the established industrial units after ensuring the unit’s compliance of conditions stipulated in
the Consent to Establish.

For efficient and effective implementation of the Acts and Rules and for efficient monitoing,
the TNPCB has constituted various committees at Head, Zonal and District office levels. These
committees conduct meetings at their levels and decide on the issues of consents, renewal of
consents and authorisation for waste management.

Classification of Industries:

The Central Pollution Control Board has issued direction vide its letter dated 07.03.2016 to all
State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) to maintain uniformity in categorizing the industries as
Red, Orange, Green and White for grant of consent, inventorisation and other related activities.
Based on that, TNPCB has classified the industries into a matrix of different categories by
combining the pollution potential of an industry and the value of its Gross Fixed Assets (GFA)
for the purpose of monitoring. Thus, the industries are grouped as Red, Orange, Green or White
and as Large, Medium or Small. As per CPCB direction, there shall be no necessity of obtaining
consent for White category industries and only intimation to the concerned State Pollution
Control Board shall suffice.

In addition, certain highly polluting industries have been brought under ‘17 category industries’
based on the classification prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Online Consent Management:

The Board grants consent for establishment and operation of industries and processes based on
the proposals submitted by the proponents. As a part of e-governance initiative of the
Government of Tamil Nadu and with a view to provide a healthy and proactive interface
between the regulatory authority and the industries, the TNPCB has introduced the facility of
Online Consent Management and Monitoring System (OCMMS) from 19.01.2015 onwards.

The web based generic software package used in OCMMS has automated the work flow
associated with consent management and monitoring which is one of the basic functions of the
TNPCB. This system brings transparency and promptness in consent management, facilitating
the industries for online submission of applications for Consent to Establish / Consent to
Operate / Renewal of Consent, uploading of documents, online payment of consent fees, online
submission of clarifications, besides knowing the status of applications. In order to help the
project proponents on filing of application through OCMMS, TNPCB operates Care Centre in
all the district offices.

The TNPCB grants Consent to Establish (CTE) to industries with 7 years validity in cases of
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) projects and 5 years in case of non-EIA projects. The
Consent to Operate (CTO) is issued for eligible cases with a validity period of 5 years, 10 years
and 14 years for Red, Orange and Green category industries respectively. The Tamil Nadu
Pollution Control Board is also issuing auto renewal of consent to the units with respect to Red-
Small, all sizes of Orange and Green category industries without inspections after getting and by
getting specific undertakings from the units on compliance of previous consent order conditions.

Public Hearing:

As per the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification, 2006, industrial projects falling
under “A” category require prior Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India and projects falling under “B”
category from the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). As per the
notification, the TNPCB conducts public hearings under the Chairmanship of the District
Collectors and the proceedings of the meeting are forwarded to the MoEF&CC, GoI or SEIAA
as the case may be. From April 2019 to January 2020, TNPCB has conducted public hearing for
23 projects.

Grievance Redressal System:

Due to increased awareness on environment related issues, several complaints are being received
from various public, Organizations, NGOs etc., The TNPCB has introduced online grievance
petition redressal system from 1st March 2016 onwards. During the period from April 2019 to
January 2020, 11798 complaint petitions were investigated and disposed.

Common Effluent Treatment Plants:

In the State of Tamil Nadu, tanneries and textile sectors contribute considerable export earnings
and also provide huge employment opportunities. These industries are small scale in nature and
operate in clusters in various parts of the State mostly in Ranipet, Tirupathur, Erode, Dindigul
and Tiruppur Districts, thereby necessitating the operation of Common Effluent Treatment
Plants (CETPs) to treat the trade effluent generated from their operations to ensure sustainable
operation of these industries.

The TNPCB plays a supportive role towards the establishment of CETPs for cluster of small
scale industries and also offers technical scrutiny of the proposals submitted by them, through
IIT Madras and Anna University. The CETPs are established with the subsidy from State and
Central Government and contribution by the member industries. In Tamil Nadu, 36 CETPs are
functioning, out of which 20 are in textiles, 13 are in tanneries, two are in electroplating and one
is in Hotel and Lodges sectors. Apart from the above existing CETPs, 10 new CETPs are
proposed to treat the trade effluent generated from the textile bleaching and dyeing industries
located as cluster in Erode and Namakkal Districts. The TNPCB has issued Consent for
Establishment to five CETPs.

To protect and conserve the critical water sources, the system of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD)
was pioneered by TNPCB. The system provides for the recovery and reuse of water from the
trade effluent, without allowing for discharge of effluent into any land or water sources. Out of
13 CETPs operated for tanneries, 11 CETPs are achieving ZLD. The remaining two CETPs
located at Madavaram and Pallavaram have provided primary and secondary treatment system
and have opted for dilution of treated effluents with treated municipal sewage to meet the
standards prescribed by the Board.

Out of 20 CETPs functioning for the textiles, 19 CETPs (18 CETPs in Tiruppur and one CETP
in Perundurai) have achieved ZLD. For modernization / improvement of ZLD system in 18
CETPs in Tiruppur, the Government of Tamil Nadu have announced Rs.203.29 Crores as
interest free loan, out of which Rs.199.15 Crore has been sanctioned and released to the
respective CETPs through the Director of Handlooms and Textiles. The remaining one CETP at
Ayyampet-Muthyalpet in Kancheepuram district has proposed to provide ZLD plant after
getting the grant from the Central and State Governments

Plastic Waste Management :

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India have notified
the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016. As per the annual report for the year 2018-19, the
estimated plastic waste generated from 664 Urban Local Bodies of Tamil Nadu is around 1098
tons/day, out of which 90% is collected and segregated by the respective urban bodies in which
the recyclable plastic waste are sold to the recyclers, low value / low calorific plastic waste are
utilized for road laying and the non-recyclable, high calorific plastic waste are sent for co-
incineration in cement plants.

As per Rule 13 of Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, the TNPCB has issued Registration
to 91 plastic manufacturing units, 98 plastic recycling units and 8 multilayer plastic units. The
TNPCB submits annual report in Form-VI of the Rule to the Central Pollution Control Board.

Use and Throwaway Plastic Ban Notification:

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu made an announcement under Rule 110 on
05.06.2018 imposing ban on manufacture, storage, supply, sale and use of certain ‘use and
throwaway plastics’ with effect from 01.01.2019.

The Government of Tamil Nadu, in exercise of the powers conferred under Section 5 of the
Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 notified ban on manufacture, storage, supply, transport, sale
or distribution and use of 1) Plastic sheet / cling film used for food wrapping 2) Plastic sheet
used for spreading on dining table 3) Plastic Thermocol plate 4) Plastic coated paper plates 5)
Plastic coated paper cups 6) Plastic tea cups 7) Plastic tumbler 8) Thermocol cups 9) Plastic
carry bags of all size & thickness 10) Plastic coated carry bags 11) Non-woven Polypropylene
carry bags 12) Water packets/pouches 13) Plastic straw and 14) Plastic flags.

Awareness initiatives for successful implementation of Plastic Ban:

The TNPCB has carried out the following initiatives for awareness creation among the
concerned stakeholders and the public and for effective implementation of ban.

 Meetings conducted with the representatives of Shopping Malls, Hotels and Marriage Halls,
TASMAC, Eco-Clubs, NGC Coordinators and District Coordinators of Tamil Nadu

 District Environmental Committee meetings and massive awareness rallies conducted under
the Chairmanship of the District Collectors. Monitoring groups formed by the District Collector
are carrying out enforcement of plastic ban notification.
 Workshops for alternative eco-products conducted at all districts

 An exhibit vehicle was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and created
awareness at 75 locations all over Tamil Nadu.

 Regional Conferences to create awareness among various stake holders for Plastic Pollution
Free Tamil Nadu were conducted.

 Awareness was created through various media such as hosting of website, social media
platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. and screening of awareness videos and animation short
movies in shopping malls, theatres, etc.

 Display boards showing banned items were placed at 45 toll plazas across NHAI.

 The TNPCB has directed all the large industries throughout the State to comply with the plastic
ban order and to create awareness in areas adjoining the industries.

 The Hon’ble CM launched “Reverse Vending Buyback” Machine to Recycle the PET bottles
and aluminium cans and the same was installed at different locations.

Hazardous Waste Management:

As per the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules,
2016 the hazardous waste generators shall follow the steps namely prevention, minimization,
reuse, recycling, recovery, utilization including coprocessing and safe disposal of the hazardous
wastes. The State Pollution Control Board shall grant authorization for handling the hazardous
wastes.

In the State of Tamil Nadu, there are 3,492 units identified as hazardous wastes generating units
and authorization has been issued to them through online consent management system. Of the
18.06 lakh tons of hazardous wastes generated during 2019-20, 2.07 lakh tons are landfillable,
2.01 lakh tons are recyclable, 0.41 lakh tons are incinerable, 13.57 lakhs tons of wastes are
utilizable.

The TNPCB is taking effective steps in handling and management of hazardous wastes, its
treatment and disposal in an environmentally safe manner. Two common hazardous waste
“Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities’’ (TSDF) have been established at Gummidipoondi
and Virudhunagar and they are in operation. Further, the TNPCB has taken efforts to utilize the
hazardous wastes generated from Common Effluent Treatment Plants (CETPs) of the textile
processing units and tanneries as raw material for co-processing in the cement factories. So far,
2.11 lakh tons of ETP primary sludge has been disposed off to various cement industries for co-
processing.

Solid Waste Management:

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India have notified
the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. The role of local bodies have been specified under
Rule 15. As per Rule 16, the TNPCB enforces these Rules through local bodies.

In Tamil Nadu, there are 15 Corporations, 121 Municipalities and 528 Town Panchayats. During
2018-19 and the total quantity of solid waste generation was 13,968 tons/day, as reported by the
local bodies, of which 12,850 tons/day of solid wastes was collected. From this collected
quantity, 7,196 tons/day of solid waste was treated and 5,654 tons/day were land filled in the
landfill sites.

The TNPCB has issued Authorisation to 219 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) generating solid
wastes greater than 5 tons/day. The TNPCB issues directions to ULBs based on complaints
received for improper solid waste management. The TNPCB monitors the water and air quality
in and around the dumpsites of ULBs periodically. The TNPCB submits the annual report in
Form-V to the CPCB.

Biomedical Waste Management :

As per the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, the Bio-medical waste generators and
the operators of the Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment and Disposal facilities (CBMWTF)
are responsible for safe handling and disposal of the bio-medical wastes. The TNPCB issues
authorization to the health care facilities and the CBMWTFs through online and monitors the
compliance of various provisions of the Rules. The Government have constituted the State Level
Advisory Committee to oversee the implementation of the Rules.
In the State of Tamil Nadu, so far 18,372 Private and Government hospitals, including the
bedded and non bedded clinics, Veterinary Institutions, Pathological Labs, Blood Banks and
Research Institutions have been issued with authorizations under BMWM Rules, 2016. All these
hospitals have executed agreement with the CBMWTFs for the collection, transport, treatment
and scientific disposal of the biomedical wastes. In Tamil Nadu, there are 11 CBMWTFs, out of
which, eight facilities are in operation. The remaining three facilities were issued with closure
directions by the TNPCB for non compliance of Bio Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
On an average, 58 tons/day of bio-medical waste are handled by these facilities. Consent for
Establishment has been issued for three more common facilities at Tiruvallur, Cuddalore and
Tiruppur Districts.

E-Waste Management:

As per the E-Waste Management Rules, 2016 the producer of the electrical and electronic
equipments shall be responsible for collection and channelization of e-wastes generated from the
‘end-of-life’ of their products under Extended Producers Responsibility (EPR). The CPCB issues
authorization to the producer of electrical or electronic equipments for channelization of e-wastes
to ensure environmentally sound management of such waste. The TNPCB monitors the
compliance of the conditions of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Authorisation. The
TNPCB grants authorization to the manufacturers, dismantlers, recyclers and refurbishers and
conducts random inspections. The Board has so far issued authorizations to 25 units, which
includes 23 Dismantlers, one Recycler and one Refurbisher.