To encourage industrial units to provide accurate information in their environment audits, the government may soon amend the format of the environmental statement. The submission of the environment statement is mandatory for obtaining a no-objection certificate, which is issued by the State Pollution Control Board concerned.

Organisations such as the National Productivity Council (NPC) had pointed out that the present environment statement requires industrial units to provide information such as the degree of concentration of pollutants in their effluent treatment. According to the NPC, the furnishing of such details deters industrial units from providing correct data, even though information contained in the statements cannot be used to initiate legal action against polluting industries.

Under the proposed changed format, industries will specify the pollutants generated before treatment, not after.