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It is submitted that the industry was issued show cause notice for refusal of ‘consent to operate’ under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 alongwith an opportunity of personal hearing before the Hon’ble Chairman of the Board on 01.04.2024 vide letter no. 191 dated 10.04.2024 and it was decided as under:
1) Directions u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 shall be issued that the industry shall not operate boiler of capacity 25 TPH without providing stack of adequate height alongwith sample collection facility under any circumstances and without obtaining prior permission from the Board.
2) The compliance report submitted by the industry be given to the Committee already constituted by the Board to examine the compliances made by the industry.
3) The Committee shall submit the report within 3-days to the Competent Authority of the Board alongwith recommendations.
4) On the receipt of the report from the Committee, renewal of consent to operate applied by the industry under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 will be decided on merits.
In compliance to decision no. 01 above, the industry has been issued directions u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide letter no. 223 dated 10.04.2024 to the effect as under:
“That the industry shall not operate boiler of capacity 25 TPH without providing stack of adequate height alongwith sample collection facility under any circumstances and without obtaining prior permission from the Board”
A copy of the said directions has also been sent to the industry by this office vide letter no 1558 dated 19.04.2024.
It is further mentioned here that the Competent Authority of the Board has constituted the Team of following officers of the Board vide letter no. 12742-45 dated 18/3/2024:
1. Sh. Rajeev Gupta,
Environmental Engineer-1/1,
Zonal office-1, Patiala.
2. Sh. G.D. Garg,
Environmental Engineer,
Regional Office, SAS Nagar
3. Sh. Arshdeep Singh, Asstt.
Environmental Engineer,
Regional Office, SAS Nagar
4. Sh. Avtar Singh,
Scientific Officer (Water),
Head Office Lab, Patiala
In compliance to orders of the Competent Authority, the industry namely M/s Nectar Lifesciences Unit-II, Village Saidpura, Derabassi was visited by the committee on 20.03.2024 to carryout the study/verify the compliance made by the industry.
Now, the said committed has submitted its report to Worthy Member Secretary of the Board vide letter no. 1460 dated 10.04.2024. A copy of the said report is also attached herewith for perusal of the competent authority, please.
In the said report, the committed has made following conclusions:
1) The team has collected the groundwater samples from inside as well as outside the industrial premises, which were got analyzed for various parameters from Board's Lab. Also, the samples were got analyzed for parameter cefaxime from M/s Interstellar Testing Center Pvt. Ltd., Panchkula. The results have been examined by the team and found that there is no adverse effect on the quality of groundwater with the operations of the unit. ETP&MEE are achieving the desired standards.
2) The analysis results of the samples collected on upstream and downstream of the industry from Habitpur drain reveals that there is no substantial change in the concentration of various parameters, which rule out the possibility of discharge of treated/ untreated effluent by the industrial unit into the said drain.
3) The industry has installed ETP followed by R.O and MEE for treatment of LTDS and HDTS effluent. The industry is discharging R.O permeate onto land for plantation developed by it within its premises. The industry is required to quantify the quantities of domestic effluent being generated from Unit-I and Unit-II and thereafter required to install STP of adequate capacity on priority basis so as to reduce the pollution load of said effluent on ETP and to save the energy. The industry can utilize the treated domestic effluent onto land for plantation already developed by it within its premises.
4) The industry is being operated less than 50% capacity for the last six months and at capacity about 70% during the month of Feb., 2024. But, the quantity of groundwater abstraction viz-a-viz LTDS, HTDS effluent generation and treated is almost in the same pattern of said capacities. Thus, it can be interpreted that by increasing the production capacity from 50 to 70%, there is no substantial change in the quantities of groundwater abstraction, LTDS and HTDS effluent generation. The team seen that at production capacity 70% during the month of Feb., 2024, the groundwater abstraction is 984 KLD, LTDS effluent @ 1056 KLD, HTDS effluent @ 260.48 KLD, which is very similar to the quantities at production capacity varies from 31.07% to 47.60%. Therefore, the treatment facility provide by the industry is adequate to achieve ZLD at 70% of production capacity.
5) Large quantity of sludge i.e. 676 MT (approx.) in dry condition and large quantity of sludge in semi solid state is lying stored in the earlier HDTS collection tank. The industry is required to lift the said sludge immediately to Nimbua in an environmentally sound manner.
Based upon the above conclusions as well as other findings mentioned in the report, the industry has made following recommendations:
1) The industry shall operate its ETP and MEE regularly and efficiently so as to achieve the all the desired standards laid down by the Board all the times.
2) The industry shall not discharge treated/ untreated effluent into Habitpur drain under any circumstances.
3) The industry shall stop taking domestic effluent in the ETP to install STP of adequate capacity within two months, so as to reduce the pollution load on ETP, which also help disposal of of R.O permeate onto land for plantation.
4) The industry shall immediately empty HTDS effluent storage tank within one month by sending the already accumulated sludge to Nimbua in an environmentally sound manner by adopting proper manifest system. The industry shall lift the sludge of quantity 676 MT (approx.) to Nimbua within 15-days.
5) Based on the conclusion mentioned at Sr. no. 4 above, the team felt that even at production capacity of 70%, the LTDS effluent generation is 1056 KLD, which is well below the capacity of ETP i.e. 1500 KLD and HTDS effluent generation is 260.48 KLD, which is well below the capacity of MEE i.e. 350 KLD. Thus, the team is of the opinion that the industry can be operated at a production capacity of 75% of its existing capacity keeping in view the variation of above mentioned quantities due to change in mix product, cleaning in process (CIP) procedures etc.
It is also worth to mention here that the PPCB vide letter no. 9954 dated 04.01.2024 has already issued following directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to the industry.
A. The industry shall reduce the production capacity of the unit by 25%, till the time final environment audit report is received from TIET, Patiala.
B. The industry shall not discharge any quantity of treated/ untreated trade effluent outside its premises or plantation purpose, under any circumstance.
C. The industry shall obtain revised Consent to Operate under the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981, for reduced production capacity.
In view of above mentioned details and report submitted by the committee constituted by Board, if may approved, the industry may be granted ‘consent to operate’ under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 upto 30.09.2024 with usual conditions & with following special conditions:
1) This ‘consent to operate’ its being granted to the industry only for maximum operation of the unit @ 75% of the total installed production capacity. The industry shall not exceed the said capacity without prior permission from PPCB.
2) The industry shall comply with the directions issued by the Board u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, vide letter no. 9954 dated 04.01.2024, at all times.
3) The industry shall comply with the directions issued by the Board u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, vide letter no. 224 dated 10.04.2024, at all times.
4) The industry shall operate its ETP and MEE regularly and efficiently so as to achieve the all the desired standards laid down by the Board all the times.
5) The industry shall not discharge treated/ untreated effluent into Habitpur drain under any circumstances.
6) The industry shall stop taking domestic effluent in the ETP to install STP of adequate capacity within two months, so as to reduce the pollution load on ETP, which also help disposal of R.O permeate onto land for plantation.
7) The industry shall immediately empty HTDS effluent storage tank within one month by sending the already accumulated sludge to Nimbua in an environmentally sound manner by adopting proper manifest system. The industry shall lift the sludge of quantity 676 MT (approx.) to Nimbua within 15-days.
8) The industry shall comply with the conditions mentioned in the Environmental Clearance granted to the unit by SIEAA, Punjab under EIA notification dated 2006, vide letter dated 25.11.2021.
9) The industry shall ensure that no problem related to air and water pollution is being caused by the unit due to its operation and no public complaints are received by the Board in this regard.
10) The industry shall not discharge any effluent at any unauthorized place by any unauthorized means i.e. shall not discharge any wastewater outside its premises or in any drain / inland surface waters / drain/choe/nallah/ onto land for stagnation or outside its premises, at any time, under any circumstances.
11) The industry has been approved by the Board from pollution angle and the industry shall obtain the statutory clearances / permissions from all other concerned departments.
12) The adequacy/ efficacy of the pollution control arrangements shall be the sole responsibility of the industry and the industry shall be bound to implement/ upgrade its pollution control arrangements as per the discretion of the Board to achieve the prescribed emission/ effluent standards, as amended from time to time.
13) The industry shall ensure the compliance of provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and/or any other environmental law applicable to him and Rules, Circulars & Directions issued by the Board from time to time.
14) The ‘consent to operate’ is being issued to the project proponent based upon the documents/ information submitted by it along with the online application form. The Board would be at liberty to take penal action against the industry/project proponent and its responsible/ concerned person(s) in case information/document is detected as incorrect/false/misleading at any point of time, without any opportunity of Personal Hearing.
15) In case the project proponent fails to comply with the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and/or any other environmental law applicable to the project and Rules, Circulars & Directions issued by the Board from time to time, action as deemed fit shall be taken against the project proponent.
*Competency- Worthy Chairman of the Board
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