PANAJI
Hundreds of small restaurants, eateries and food outlets in Goa will now be exempted from obtaining mandatory pollution control clearances, with the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) proposing to classify establishments with up to 20 seats under the White category.
The proposal, approved by the Board and forwarded to Environment department for necessary notification, seeks to exempt such establishments from obtaining Consent to Establish (CTE) and Consent to Operate (CTO) under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act.
Under the proposed norms, restaurants, fast-food outlets, juice centres, cloud kitchens and hotels or resorts without room or stay facilities having a maximum seating capacity of 20 persons will qualify as White category units. However, condition that the dining or seating area should not exceed 36 square metres. The area calculation will exclude kitchens, washrooms, billing and serving counters, utility spaces, staircases, circulation passages, waiting areas and other non-dining spaces.
The proposal follows a notification issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) on October 17, 2025, which classified "small-scale restaurants or hotels without room facilities, cloud kitchens and resorts without stay facilities" under the White category. White category industries are considered practically non-polluting.
The proposal was examined by a committee constituted by the GSPCB to review the classification of industries under the Red, Orange, Green and White categories after the Board received representations from restaurant owners seeking similar treatment in Goa.
The committee noted that restaurants in Goa are presently classified under the Green category if they generate less than 10 KLD of effluent and under the Orange category if the effluent exceeds that limit. However, since the Central notification referred to "small-scale" restaurants without defining the term, the committee examined practices adopted by other states.
Taking cue from the Kerala State Pollution Control Board, which considers restaurants with up to 20 seats as small-scale units, the committee adopted the same seating limit. It, however, expressed concern that some establishments could understate seating capacity during inspections to avail the exemption. To address this, it incorporated the additional ceiling of a maximum 36-square-metre dining area based on the National Building Code, which prescribes an occupant load of 1.8 square metres per diner.
