MAIT knocks on Govt's door

The Manufacturers' Association for IT (MAIT), has approached the Ministry of Environment & Forests to address the hindrances in the successful implementation of e-waste management rules. The E-waste Rules which were notified in 2011, became effective in May 2012. The notification aims at ensuring safe handling and disposal of of e-waste.

Earlier, MAIT in a collaborative approach with the industry, had suggested some measures, which were aimed at simplifying procedures and thereby increasing levels of compliance. The ministry had accepted MAIT's suggestions in principle during the consultative meetings, but no actions has been taken.

Dr. Alok Bharadwaj, President, MAIT, said, "The industry had extended all support to the government to ensure the successful implementation of the rules. However, it is unfortunate that the apprehensions voiced by MAIT when the Rules were first notified are coming true and in the absence of clarity on certain matters, the industry is not sure if the compliance steps adopted by them will serve the intended purpose. IT is generally highly globalised & organised industry. The decentralised loose multiple authority interfaces is not the best way to achieve the set objectives. The experience of old inspector Raj is beginning to be felt as our members are approaching individual State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) with diverse compliance requirements."

The challenge that the industry face are that the Rules contain provisions regarding obtaining an authorization from the concerned SPCB or PCC (Pollution Control Committee). But the producers are now forced to take authorization from multiple states, thus, adding to duplicity in data compilation. For the companies and SPCBs, this adds to the administrative burden without adding any value addition. Single authorization is expected to improve level of compliance among the companies; and later this information can be shared with the various SPCBs and PCCs.

The bigger challenge emerges while submitting documents for authorization. Companies are facing difficulties across different states as there is no uniformity and every state has setup different parameters for accepting applications, thus causing unnecessary burden both on the producers and SPCBs/PCCs. Furthermore, some of the states are demanding fees along with the applications.

Dr. Bharadwaj further added, "The whole focus of industry & government ought to produce healthy outcomes on e-waste collection, recycle & disposal. Last thing that we should expect is chaos at the stage of mere documentation."