| File Note: |
It is submitted that the industry is a small-scale red category unit. Earlier, the industry was granted Consent to Operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 vide no. CTOW/Fresh/SAS/2022/20084249 dated 14.10.2022 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. CTOA/Fresh/SAS/2022/20084234 dated 14.10.2022, both having validity upto 30.09.2024 with subject to suitable conditions and special conditions mentioned therein.
Thereafter, the industry was surprisingly visited by the officers of the Board (Er. Ravdeep Singh, AEE & Er. Parneet Singh, JEE OS) on 21.03.2024 and during visit, it was observed as under:
1. The industry was in operation and engaged in battery filling & charging.
2. The industry has installed ETP for treatment of trade effluent generated from the battery filling section but the same was not in operation during the visit. Further, no record regarding operation of the same was produced during visit.
3. During visit it was observed that the effluent is being stagnated in an adjoining plot & yellow coloured effluent was stagnated in the plot having area of around 2 acres.
4. The pH of the stagnated effluent was checked & observed to be around 4 (Acidic).
5. The industry is storing treated effluent in final collection tank after its ETP. However, plastic waste/garbage etc. was observed in the final collection tank.
6. The wet scrubber/alkali scrubber installed with the charging section was lying in dismantled state.
7. The industry has installed two DG sets with canopy but inadequate stack height.
As such, the industry is not complying with the provisions of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and the industry was given personal hearing before the Chief Environmental Engineer (P) of the Board on 22.04.2024 and it was decided as under: -
1) The consent to operate granted to the industry under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 shall be revoked/ cancelled.
2) The proposed directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 shall be confirmed for closure of the industry.
The Board has issued the directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 to the PSPCL authorities vide no. 728-29 dated 08.05.2024: -
“That the authorities concerned shall disconnect the electricity supply available to subject cited industry with immediate effect.”
The Board has also issued letter for revocation of consent to operate granted under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 vide no. 724 dated 08.05.2024 and cancellation of consent to operate granted under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. 726 dated 08.05.2024.
Now, the industry has applied for obtaining fresh consent to operate under Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for Charging of Acid lead battery @ 600000 Nos/year by using dry batteries @ 588000 Nos/year, Sulphuric acid @ 18 MTD as raw material along with requisite documents and fee. The industry is not manufacturing lead acid batteries and the industry has wrongly filled product as manufacturing of acid lead battery @ 12000 nos/day.
The industry has deposited Rs. 43,700/- vide R. No. 203313715 dated 17.05.2024 under Air Act, 1981 including application form fee, against the fixed assets of Rs. 617.79 lacs as on 30.04.2024. The consent fee deposited by the industry is adequate upto 30.06.2026.
The industry was visited by AEE of this office on 14.05.2024 and it was observed as under:
1. The industry was in operation and engaged in battery filling & charging.
2. The Manufacturing process of Charging of battery: - Dry Battery—Dilution of Acid—Filling of Diluted Acid—Charging of Battery—Battery Washing—Packing—Dispatch.
3. The industry has installed 01 diluter machine for maintain the specific gravity of H2SO4 solution. The industry has installed 05 no. plastic tank of capacity 5000 ltr each for the storage of diluter H2SO4 solution.
4. The industry has installed 30 pits on the floor area for charging of battery with H2SO4 solution as well as electrically charging. Each pits can store/ handling of batteries @ 120 no. (i.e. total = 30*120 = 3600 batteries).
5. The industry has installed RO plant and the RO reject is being discharged on to land for plantation.
6. The industry has installed ETP for treatment of trade effluent generated from the battery filling section having components collection tank, chemical dosing, primarily tube settler, MBBR, dual media filter for the treatment of above effluent. The entire treated effluent is being reused in the process.
7. The industry has now developed Karnal Technology in about 0.5 acre land for discharge of RO reject and treated trade effluent, if required.
8. The leakage earlier observed in the process area has now been plugged and no unauthorized discharge was observed during the visit.
9. The industry is providing mist eliminator on each battery for arresting acidic emissions from the charging of batteries. The industry is also in process of installing wet scrubber as APCD for arresting secondary emissions from the process.
The industry has now submitted request letter that the battery charging is a continuous process and it will suffer huge loses if electric connection is disconnected. The industry has now complied with all the observations of the visiting officers and has requested that the electric connection of the industry may not be disconnected.
In the view of compliance made at site and considering request of the industry, it is recommended that: -
1. Revised directions may be issued to the PSPCL authorities to not to disconnect the electric connection of the industry.
2. Consequent upon decision at 1 consent to operate under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 may be granted upto 30.06.2026 for Charging of Acid lead battery @ 600000 Nos/year by using dry batteries @ 588000 Nos/year, Sulphuric acid @ 18 MTD as raw material with subject to suitable conditions and special conditions that: -
1) The industry shall install the wet scrubber for control of secondary emissions within one month
2) The project proponent shall not discharge any effluent at any unauthorized place by any unauthorized means i.e. shall not discharge any wastewater in any drain / inland surface waters / drain/choe/nallah/ onto land for stagnation or outside its premises, at any time, under any circumstances.
3) 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.
4) 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.
5) 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.
6) The industry shall ensure that the activity of unit does not create any nuisance in the surrounding areas and no public complaints are received.
7) The Consent is being issued to the industry 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 and its responsible/ concerned person(s) in case information/document is detected as incorrect/false/misleading at any point of time.
8) In case the industry 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 industry.
(Competency Hon’ble Chairman of the Board)
Date of Receipt: 17.05.2024
Date of Scrutiny: 20.05.2024
Date of Deemed Approval: 11.06.2024 |
