The bolts are becoming uncomfortably frequent of late, driven by public awareness and judicial fiat, and are beginning to tell on industry. The regulatory squeeze is on. ``Industry has to take a pro-active approach to the environmental and pollution control challenge and not be led by regulatory pressure alone,'' saysSeema Arora, counsellor, Environment Management Division, CII. ``Environmental and clean practices are increasing making better business sense. The faster industry wakes up to the fact, the better it is,'' says Jaysheelan, secretary, FICCI.

FICCI and CII, along with a couple of other chambers, have been taking some concrete action on this front, though. And the results have begun trickling in. Work nears completion at a CII state-of-the-art environmental services and monitoring lab in Chandigarh, which goes into action by September this year. Says Arora, ``This is the first time we will be having such a lab in the country, which will cater to the industrial needs of the northern region.'' If the project receives adequate response, for which CII is sparing no effort, the confederation will set up other such facilities in the other regions as well.

FICCI, on the other hand, is on the threshold of putting up an Environmental Information Centre (EIC) on the Internet at www.cleantechindia.com, a Rs 3-croreproject collaborated by USAID under the Trade in Environmental Services and Technologies (TEST) programme. EIC, which will be operated by FICCI's Business Information Services Network (Bisnet), has already had a soft launch.

Says M A J Jaysheelan, who doubles up as the executive director of FICCI's information services: ``EIC will serve as a clearing house for environmental technologies, products and consulting services. It will also serve as a first-of-its-kind database on environmental policies, regulations, technologies and company level information.''

For both the business bodies, training and awareness play a major role in their environmental activities. CII has been in fact quite active on the environmental audit front. It has been conducting regular training courses on environmental audit. ``Environmental accountability is becoming increasingly important and we need specialised people to carry out such tasks,'' says Arora. FICCI is also conducting regular training programmes, not only as workshopsfor a larger audience, but at the unit level as well, where a team of experts are sent to share its expertise on the shop floor. FICCI has also taken the initiative of offering specialised EMS (Environmental Management System) services at the unit level. CII, too, has been active in this area. ``We have been offering EMS training and services to industry. Since we started, nine big business houses have started the ISO 14000 process,'' says Arora.

Both Arora and Jaysheelan feel that there is a lot to be done in the SME (small and medium enterprise) sector, which is most often the worst offender. ``We are keen on building a network and interface with the SMEs through their own representative bodies,'' says Jaysheelan.

Though awareness has been sluggish, green concerns are gradually sinking in. Business is slowly coming to terms with the fact that environmental preservation and pollution control do make better business sense in the long term. And if the carrot of eco-friendly and healthier bottomlinesdoesn't work, the stick of regulation surely will.