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Sub: Proceedings of the personal hearing given before Chairman of the Board for show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 on 05.04.2024- M/s Dayanand Medical College & Hospital, Tagore Nagar, Ludhiana.
The following were present:
On behalf of PPCB
Er. G.S. Majithia, Member Secretary
Er. Pardeep Gupta, CEE, Ludhiana
Er. Gurmeet Singh, EE, RO-3, Ludhiana
On behalf of health care facility
Dr. G.S. Wander (Principal),
Dr. Sandeep Sharma (Medical Superintendent),
Sh. Umesh Gupta (Chief Administrator),
Sh. Raj Kumar Goel (Chief Engineer),
It was brought out that the HCF was earlier afforded an opportunity of personal hearing on 14.03.2022 before refusal of consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 before the Chairman of the Board for not obtaining Environmental Compensation. After hearing, following decisions were taken:
1. The HCF be granted consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 upto 31.01.2024 (adequacy of consent fee), subject to condition that the HCF shall not carry out further construction activities, without obtaining Environmental Clearance.
2. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-3, Ludhiana shall visit the industry, verify the online status of OCEMS with the Board's server and submit his report, within 03 days.
Accordingly, the HCF was granted consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 vide no. CTOW/Renewal/LDH3/2022/17558202 dated 29.03.2022, which had expired on 31.01.2024.
The HCF was also granted consent to operate under Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. CTOA/Renewal/LDH3/2021/15570104 dated 17.08.2021, which had expired on 31.03.2024.
The HCF was granted authorization under Bio-Medical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules, 2016 vide no. BMW/Renewal/LDH3/2023/21469809 dated 25.07.2023 for 1625 beds, which was expired on 24.01.2024 with special conditions that:
1. The hospital will submit Environment Clearance under EIA notification dated 14-09-2006, within this period and detailed layout plan / building plan of the hospital showing different components.
2. The authorization is granted subject to the decisions of the SEAC / SEIAA and subsequent issuance of Environmental Clearance for the extended component of hospital.
3. In case, SEIAA refused Environmental Clearance or raised any objection with regard to grant of Environmental Clearance, the Board reserves the right to revoke this authorization and take penal action including closure / sealing of the extended component of the hospital (for which Environmental Clearance not obtained) and legal action against the Health Care Facility and person responsible for its operation and management.
Now, the HCF has applied for renewal of consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and also applied for obtaining fresh authorization under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The consent / authorization application of the HCF were examined and it was observed that the HCF has yet not obtained the Environmental Clearance from the SEIAA as per condition of previous consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Government of India has issued directions vide letter dated 20-09-2021 vide which it has been mandated that all SPCB shall ensure that the project proponent possess a valid prior EC in term of the extent EIA notification, if applicable at the time of grant/renewal of CTO and no CTO shall be granted or renewed unless EC, if applicable has been obtained.
The HCF is not complying with the mandatory conditions on the basis of which it was granted consents/ authorization.
Show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and authorization under Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 were issued to the HCF with an opportunity of personal hearing before Chairman of the Board on 05.04.2024.
Dr. G.S. Wander attended the hearing and submitted written reply on behalf of the institute, which is taken on record. Dr. Wander informed the chair that their institute is a premier health care institute. Due to non-grant of consents/authorization by the Board, a no. of certifications to be obtained by the institute are pending for renewal. He requested that the institute be granted consents/authorization at the earliest.
Dr. Wander replied that after the issue of TOR by SEIAA last year, they have been not able to upload their EC application due to closing of window in PARVESH PORTAL. However, they assure to submit application to SEIAA through some other mode, immediately.
Accordingly, it was decided that the institute shall immediately submit its EC application to SEIAA before its request for grant of consents/authorization is considered by the Board.
Now, the institute vide email dated 05.04.2024 has submitted its EC application including EIA report to SEIAA under intimation to the Board and has requested for grant of consents/authorization.
The matter was considered by the Competent Authority of the Board and it was observed that although the institute is yet to obtain EC as a pre-requisite document to consents/authorization, however, the institute has completed the requisite documentation required for getting EC and is at the advance stage. To avoid disruption of health services by this premier health institute of the State and also to avoid inconvenience to public at large, a lenient view is taken as a special case. Therefore, it is decided as under:
1. The institute be granted short-term consent to operate under the Water (Act), 1974 and Air (Act), 1981 as well as authorization under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 for a period upto 30.06.2024 subject to the suitable conditions.
2. In the mean-time, the institute shall follow up its case with SEIAA, sincerely, so as to obtain EC before the expiry date of consents/authorization being granted.
Submitted for confirmation of decisions of the hearing so that the same could be conveyed to the institute and concerned officers for compliance of decisions, please.
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