NT Reporter
Panaji
In a policy decision impacting pollution control norms for Goa’s tourism and hospitality establishments, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has revised the pollution index (PI) categorisation of small hotels, restaurants (including cloud kitchens without rooms), banquet halls and resorts.
The updated guidelines shift most of these businesses into the orange and green categories, moving away from their previous white category designation.
This revised classification applies to all state pollution control boards with immediate effect. Under the updated system for the hotel sector, establishments with fewer than 20 rooms are now placed in the green category. They qualify for the white category only if they use clean fuel in the kitchen and meet specific conditions, including using CPCB IV-compliant generator sets, installing oil and grease traps in kitchens and managing wastewater through a sewage treatment plant (STP), among other requirements.
The revised framework also categorises restaurants, dhabas and eateries based on seating capacity: those with more than 200 seats fall into the orange category, those with 101 to 200 seats are in the green category, and those with fewer than 100 seats are classified as white, provided they fulfil CPCB norms.
Meanwhile, standalone banquets, marriage halls and wedding venues are assigned to either the orange or green category depending on their total size, though venues covering an area of less than 1,000 square metres are placed in the white category.
The reclassification follows detailed deliberations during a CPCB committee meeting on July 7, which evaluated the pollution potential of hospitality establishments based on their specific operations and scale of wastewater generation – primarily measured by room count, seating capacity and total area dedicated to guest congregations.
In total, the CPCB classified 419 industries (up from 403) into red, orange, green, white and blue categories by assigning equal weight to scores from air pollution, water pollution and hazardous waste generation.
