Bhubaneswar Sep 17 (IANS) Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday launched a star rating system for industries a first-of-its-kind transparency initiative to categorise industries from one to five stars compliant to pollution standards.
"We are committed towards serving our citizens better and I am very optimistic about this programme that aims to cut pollution. The star rating system will help the public to find out whether industries in their vicinity are fair in their environmental compliance and empower them to strengthen regulations through public participation " Patnaik said.
He said the programme also recognises the efforts of industries that take responsibility to maintain a clean environment and go beyond what the regulations require them to do.
This system would also encourage and induce the industries to adopt clean technologies he added.
The programme is based on the particulate matter (PM) emissions of large manufacturers of steel cement aluminium and major power plants.
It will be implemented with the help of Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC India) researchers and Tata Centre for Development at Chicago (TCD) in a phased manner.
The programme will cover 20 industrial plants initially and will eventually cover all the 136 plants with continuously monitored data.

--IANS cd/ksk/mr