One Week Specialization Course for Environmental Regulators on Compliance, Monitoring & Enforcement at Indore 14-18th September, 2015

One week specialization course for Environmental Regulators from September 14-18, 2015 in Indore

A one week specialization course for environmental regulators was conducted in Indore, as part of the training programme on Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement. The programme was organized by the Centre for Science and Environment in Indore, in collaboration with Swedish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). 

A mixed group of junior and many senior/mid level officers attended the programme. The participants were from different state pollution control boards from across the 11 states, named Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telengana, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Goa. It also focused how to handle the issues proficiently. The Regional Officer from Indore, Mr. R. K. Gupta along with other officials from Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board also attended the programme. 

A detailed discussion on various Swedish environmental laws was carried out by the Sweedish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). The training programme covered the environmental governance process in Sweden along side the discussion on various Swedish environmental legislations on industrial pollution. Various industries operating in Sweden including the pulp & paper, refineries, mining etc were discussed in detail by the experts from SEPA. A detailed session along with a group exercise on Swedish permitting application and EIA granting procedure to industries was taken by Ms. Elisabeth. 

The discussion on municipal waste water treatment plant was held by the experts from SEPA. Apart from the classroom activities, a day long visit to a TSDF unit and a bulk drug and formulation unit was conducted in the Dhar-Pithampur industrial area. 

A presentation on the various voluntary instruments exist in Sweden was also given by Ms. Ylva, which was followed by an interactive session with the participants that was focused on exploring the scope of this voluntary instruments in Indian industries. 

The entire programme to make more interactive with the participants, group exercises on various issues had been organized; where in the participant’s involvements were worth to watch. The different state pollution control board representative showed their interest in carry forward this learning. The feedback from local state pollution control board representative and SEPA seems very encouraging in organising the similar kind of event in the near future.