Maharashtra Govt Forms Panel To Raise Industrial Bank Guarantees After CAG Flags Lapses

The Maharashtra government on Tuesday constituted a committee headed by Environment Minister Pankaja Munde to examine a proposal to increase the amount of deposits taken from industrial units as bank guarantees for abiding by environmental norms and not causing pollution.

The committee, set up through a Government Resolution (GR), will also suggest technical and policy measures to curb air and water pollution.

The move came months after the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) flagged serious lapses in the collection and enforcement of such guarantees.

The committee will study, in consultation with experts, increasing the deposit amount, the GR said.

The CAG report tabled during the Budget session earlier this year had pointed out that 2,678 bank guarantees worth ₹272.47 crore had not been obtained in physical form, making them unverifiable. Forfeiture orders could not be executed in several cases because the guarantees had not been collected.

The CAG had also said that ₹17.98 crore from forfeited guarantees were incorrectly credited instead of being used for environmental remediation. It had also flagged short recovery of ₹7.56 crore in consent fees and said environmental compensation of ₹183.25 crore imposed on 339 industries remained unrecovered, with notices subsequently withdrawn without justification.

The committee headed by Munde will have BJP MLAs Sudhir Mungantiwar, Amal Mahadik and Prashant Thakur as members; the Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Secretary of the Industries and Mining Department, Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary/Secretary of the Environment Department, chief executive officer of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation and member secretary of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board.

It will also have representatives from three industries -- Western Coalfields Ltd, a thermal power station and the steel industry -- as members.

The committee will study ways to increase industrial bank guarantees, propose technical and policy measures to control air and water pollution, and prepare reports on different industrial zones and pollution hotspots.