Chennai, Jan 30 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday announced a new initiative, 'Direct CTO', to enable companies operating under 'green category industries' receive faster clearances from government to commence operations.

The move would largely benefit micro, small and medium enterprises planning to set up operations in the state, he said at a function held to mark 125 years of trade body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

"I am happy to announce a new initiative Direct CTO (Consent to Operate) Scheme to relax the process for pre-establishment clearances for Green category industries," Palaniswami said, kicking off CII@125 years celebrations.

Noting that companies falling under the 'white' category do not require consent from the pollution control board, he said, industries under the 'green' category would benefit from the new initiative.

According to Ministry of Environment, companies are classified in red, orange, green and white categories based on the pollution index generated from them.

The pollution index of any industrial sector is a number from 0 to 100 and the increasing value of PI refers to the degree of pollution load from the industries.

'Red' category industries are those which have a pollution index score of 60 and above, 'orange' category are with 41 to 59, 'green' category industrial sectors are of 21 to 40 and 'white' category industries are from 0 to 20.

Palaniswami said under the new initiative, the companies falling under the 'green' category need to pay the application fees for receiving the Direct CTO to set up office in industrial parks.

"They need not wait to receive the clearances. These companies can commence construction activities through self-declaration," he said.

The chief minister on the occasion also announced an initiative for land-use re-classification in non-plan areas.

"Land-use re-classification for non-plan areas will be given deemed approval, if the applications in full shape, cross the timeline", he said.

Palaniswami said compared to the earlier practice of waiting to receive clearances for a period of six months to two years, companies planning to set up office would get clearances within 50 days under this new scheme.

He said after the conduct of the second Global Investors Meet in 2019, 63 new memoranda of understanding worth Rs 19,000 crore were signed by the government.

"Through this initiative, 83,000 new jobs will be created in the state," he said.

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