AMARAVATI: To bring in more stringent laws for environmental protection and pollution control, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has come up with a new legislation called the 'AP Environment Improvement Act,' on Wednesday.

In a high-level review meeting conducted at the CM Camp office, the Chief Minister discussed various aspects of the new legislation with the Minister of Forest and Environment, Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Special Chief Secretary Neerab Kumar Prasad, Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (PCB) member Vivek Yadav and other officials.

The following aspects were discussed in the review meeting:

-There should continued monitoring of Red and Orange listed companies in the State. The Pollution Control Board (PCB) should receive real-time data regularly. It is important to understand what measures are being taken based on this data.

-The Government should regularly receive data about h chemical handling, storage, processing of hazardous chemicals, etc. A reputable and trusted company should be given responsibility for monitoring this data.

-Immediate warnings should be issued when pollution and hazardous conditions arise beyond specified standards. A Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) should be prepared for whomever these alerts go to, including the District Collectors, SPs and concerned authorities.

-Penalties should be levied if the companies fail to take adequate measures and cause damage to the environment. If the payment is not made within the stipulated time, further penalties should be imposed and there should be no scope for corruption in this whole process.

-A 'Green Fund' (Haritha Nidhi) was proposed for environmental conservation, while promoting the industrial sector.

-Industries under the Red and Orange category should have required equipment for measuring pollution levels. This information should be linked to the State Pollution Control Board and companies have to be penalised even for any minor violations, he said.

-The Chief Minister also called to establish an Environment Damage Compensation (EDC) system. The EDC will assess the damage caused by the pollution and estimate the costs for getting back to the previous state before the pollution. The money for this should be taken from the Green Fund to protect the environmental.

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