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The industry is small scale orange category Hot Mix Plant and was granted Consent to Establish (NOC) under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. CTE/Fresh/MOG/2025/27537054 dated 27.01.2025 having validity upto 26.01.2026 with subject conditions as mentioned therein.
Earlier, the industry was visited by the officer of Regional Office on 06.05.2025 during tour to the area and it was observed as under:
1. The Hot Mix Plant is situated at Village Jalalabad East, District Moga and was not in operation during the visit.
2. The project proponent has installed complete machinery of Hot Mix Plant and stored raw material in the premises from the condition it came to know that the Hot Mix Plant is being operated regularly.
3. The Hot Mix Plant has installed dust collector followed by wet scrubber with water re-circulation system as APCD to contain the process emission.
4. The Hot Mix Plant has installed bitumen heaters. Stack of adequate height has been provided with these bitumen heaters.
5. The hot mix plant has not developed adequate plantation along its boundary.
6. The Hot Mix Plant has not stabilized the vehicular movement area within its premises with stone aggregates and has made arrangement for sprinkling of water to suppress the dust emissions generated during vehicular movement.
7. The Hot Mix Plant has constructed septic tank for treatment of its domestic effluent and has not made provision to discharge the treated effluent onto land for plantation along the boundary.
8. The industry is not complying with the provisions of Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981.
Therefore, the project proponent is not complying with the conditions of NOC granted to it and is violating the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Thus, violating the provisions of the said Acts and causing pollution.
Accordingly, a show cause notice for violation of the provisions of the Water Act,1974 and the Air Act, 1981 was issued to the industry with an opportunity of personal hearing before Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-2, Ludhiana on 25.08.2025. However, no one on behalf of the industry attended the hearing.
Thereafter, the industry was again issued show cause notice for violations of the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Sr. Environmental Engineer on 13/10/2025. The Representative of the industry attended the hearing and submitted a written reply, which was taken on record. After hearing the officer of the Board and Representative of the industry, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-2, Patiala decided that:
1. The industry shall apply for obtaining consents to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 alongwith requisite documents & fee, within 10 days.
2. The industry shall comply the code of practice framed by the CPCB/ Punjab Pollution Control Board in true letter & spirit at all the time.
3. The industry shall provide adequate & appropriate pollution control devices, to contain the various pollutants in the effluents/ emissions discharged by it within the standards laid down by the Board within 10 days.
4. The industry shall provide adequate plantation area for the disposal of treated wastewater onto land for plantation, within 10 days.
5. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Barnala shall visit the industry after 10 days to verify the compliance made by it and process the consent applications to be applied by the industry. under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 on merits, immediately, thereafter.
Now, the unit has applied for fresh consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 & the Air Act, 1981 for operation Hot Mix Plant to manufacture Premix @ 170 TPH, the detail of the case is as under:
1. The industry has submitted latest CA certificate/project report, stating value of fixed assets of Rs. 91.08 lakhs (including plant & machinery of Rs. 80.56 lakhs) as on 30.11.2025.
2. The industry has deposited consent fee of Rs. 11200/- vide UTR / Ref. No. UBINN52025121613422348 & UBINN52025121613423355 dated 16.12.2025 under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981, which is adequate upto 30.09.2026 after deducting the penalties.
The industry was already been visited by Sh. Rajesh Kumar, JEE on 09.12.2025 and following observations were found:
1. The Hot Mix Plant was not in operation during the visit.
2. The project proponent has stored raw material in the premises, seems that the HMP has been operated by the PP in recent days.
3. The Hot Mix Plant has installed dust collector followed by wet scrubber with water re-circulation system as APCD to contain the process emission.
4. The Hot Mix Plant has not stabilized the vehicular movement area within its premises with stone aggregates and has not made any arrangement for sprinkling of water to suppress the dust emissions generated during vehicular movement.
5. The Hot Mix Plant has constructed septic tank for treatment of its domestic effluent but it has not made any provision to discharge the treated effluent onto land for plantation.
6. The hot mix plant has not developed adequate plantation along the boundary.
From the above, it is evident that the industry is still not complying with the provisions of Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 as well as decisions of personal hearing.
Keeping in the view of above, it is recommended that consent to operate applied under the provisions of Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 by the industry may be refused pls.
Category- Small/Orange
Competency- Senior Environmental Engineer
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