THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

BHUBANESWAR, OCTOBER 5, 2026

Odisha needs to balance environmental protection with industrial growth to facilitate investments while ensuring sustainable development, Chief Secretary and Odisha State Pollution Control Board (OSPCB) Chairman Anu Garg said on Monday.

Reviewing the functioning of the OSPCB here, Garg said the Board should move beyond its traditional role of granting permissions and checking compliance and evolve into a data-driven, technology-enabled and transparent environmental management institution.

The Chief Secretary reviewed the Board’s regulatory framework, environmental monitoring, waste management, human resources and institutional challenges, and outlined priorities for its future course of action.

With rapid expansion in sectors such as steel, aluminium, power, mining and petrochemicals, Garg stressed the need for responsible industrialisation that goes hand in hand with environmental protection.

She said environmental approval and compliance procedures should be made simpler, transparent, predictable and time-bound, with greater use of technology, as part of the Ease of Doing Business framework.

Such measures would help industries maintain prescribed environmental standards while creating a more conducive ecosystem for new investments and industrial establishments in the state, she said.

Garg directed the OSPCB to focus on policy reforms, institutional capacity building, modern technology, laboratory and research infrastructure, waste recycling and reuse, public awareness and human resource development.

She said the Board’s initiatives should be aligned with the broader objectives of ‘Viksit Odisha 2036’ and ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’, integrating environmental protection with economic growth, industrial development, investment, innovation and employment generation.

Highlighting the importance of the circular economy, Garg said waste should not merely be considered something to be disposed of, but treated as a potential economic resource.

She called for greater emphasis on segregation, collection, processing, recycling and resource recovery of municipal, industrial, plastic, e-waste, construction and demolition, hazardous and other categories of waste.

The ‘Waste to Wealth’ or ‘Waste to Economy’ approach should be promoted by encouraging technologies, enterprises and business models that enable waste generated in one sector to become a useful resource or raw material for another, she said.

Such an approach would reduce the burden on waste-disposal systems while creating opportunities for new businesses, employment and income generation, Garg said.

She also said Odisha’s future economic growth should not depend solely on its mineral resources and underlined the importance of tourism as another major driver of the state’s economy.

The OSPCB has an important role in supporting the state’s overall development, including tourism and infrastructure expansion, while safeguarding the environment, she said.

Member Secretary of the OSPCB Dr Manoj V Nair made a detailed presentation on the Board’s existing regulatory framework, challenges and future plans.

The meeting stressed the need to strengthen online monitoring, automated data collection, digital tracking of industrial compliance and data-driven decision-making to make pollution control more efficient and transparent.

Modernisation of the Board’s Central Laboratory, Coastal Environment Monitoring Centre and regional laboratories was also discussed, along with measures to strengthen research and technical collaboration with national research organisations, technical institutions and specialised agencies.

The meeting also examined ways to increase the reuse of industrial by-products such as fly ash, slag, red mud and phosphogypsum, including their use in construction, highways and other infrastructure projects.

Garg called for wider environmental awareness programmes targeting students and the public and suggested greater use of social media to disseminate information on environmental protection and real-time air and water quality.

The meeting also reviewed steps to integrate approval systems with the single-window online platform, online certificate verification and paperless procedures to make regulatory processes more efficient.

Human resource requirements, including filling vacancies, promotions and future manpower planning, were also reviewed, with emphasis on strengthening the Board’s regional offices, laboratories, legal wing and information technology division.

Garg called for further strengthening the OSPCB’s role in promoting responsible industrialisation and sustainable development to help Odisha emerge as a clean, green and investment-friendly state.

Other members of the OSPCB were present at the meeting.