| File Note: |
Discussed, Sir, the legal opinion has been given by SLO of the Board and copy of the same is enclosed herewith for kind perusal. As per the legal opinion, it has been mentioned that short term consent may be granted to the unit with suitable conditions, however s ubject to the final decision of the Hon’ble National Green Tribunal (NGT) in OA 1358 of 2024 titled as Archit Arora vs State of Punjab & Ors. Submitted for approval of the note dated 19/11/2025 given as below: There is no official binding by the Board on issuance of CTO in Khanna as on date. Further, the Action Plan for Clean Air Khanna was prepared in 2019, wherein, one of the key activities was conversion to CNG from coal for which it was mentioned that 1. Providing pipeline for transportation of PNG-One year. 2. Procurement of instruments 3. Installation 4. Commissioning. The PNG pipeline has been laid in most of the areas of Khanna and even the PNG pipeline has been laid in the vicinity of the industry. However, the industry is yet to switch over to PNG and has applied for CTO to run the furnace on wood pellets…… Also, the matter OA 1358 of 2024 titled as Archit Arora vs State of Punjab & Ors regarding bad air quality in Khanna due to operation of coal fired rolling mills in Khannna is under consideration of Hon’ble NGT and listed on 27.11.2025. Board has already filed its reply in January 2025 wherein, it was mentioned that the Board has issued notice u/s 31-A of the Air Act,1981 as amended in 1987 to 39 rolling mills running on coal alongwith opportunity of personal hearing before the Chairman of the Board on 15.01.2025 postponed to 27.03.2025 but in actual could not be held due to administrative reasons……. Further, as per fuel policy, under the clause of Cleaner and Eco-friendly Fuels, State Govt/ PPCB shall in its endeavour to save natural resources shall take appropriate steps for replacement of its natural resources in phased manner with cleaner fuels, biomass fuels and fuels having low sulphur content wherever possible and PNG is not mandatory etc…… In light of the above, following action is proposed for concurrence: Subject: Proceedings of the personal hearing given by the Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-2, Patiala for violations of the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 to M/s Mahalakshmi Industries(Unit-II), G.T. Road, Village Alour, Tehsil Khanna, Distt Ludhiana on 11/11/2025. The following were present: From the Board: Er. Kamal Singla, EE, ZO-II, Patiala From the Industry: Sh. Shitin Aggarwal, S/o Prop. Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-II, Patiala brought out that the industry was granted consent to operate under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 vide no. vide no. CTOW/Fresh/LDHKH/2021/15044348 dated 25/03/2021 and under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. CTOA/Fresh/LDHKH/2021/15044093 dated 25/03/2021, both were valid upto 30/06/2025 for manufacturing of Aluminum Ingots @ 10 MTD by using furnace oil, subject to certain conditions mentioned therein. The Govt. of Punjab, Department of Science, Technology & Environment vide notification no. 10/64/2020-STE4/469 dated 04/10/2023 has notified the Fuel Policy for the Industries of State of Punjab giving priority for use of cleaner fuel; Khanna city has already been declared as Non-attainment City by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Action Plan for Clean Air has already been prepared & notified by the State Government in year 2019, wherein timelines for shifting the industries from coal to PNG was fixed as 31/03/2021; The Board, being the prescribed authority for the Prevention and Control of water, air and environmental Pollution, has to get the provisions of action plan for non-attainment city of Khanna, complied by the industries in a time bound manner; In O.A. No. 1358 of 2024 titled as Archit Arora Vs. State of Punjab & Ors. has been filed before the Hon’ble NGT wherein, the Applicant has raised the issue of poor air quality in the city of Khanna. It is alleged by the applicant that the rolling mills and other industries in the area use coal / Pet coke as fuel instead of switching to Piped Natural Gas (PNG). Further OA No. 295/2023 concerning Mandi Gobindgarh involving a similar issue is already pending before the National Green Tribunal, and Khanna City is just adjacent to Mandi Gobindgarh; The industry was visited by the officer of the Regional Office, Fatehgarh Sahib on 15/09/2025 and during visit, the industry was in operation and is using wood pellets as fuel in its skelener type furnace. The pipe lines for PNG has already been laid in most of the industrial area of Khanna by M/s Think Gas Ludhiana Pvt. Ltd. for supply PNG to the industrial units to use it as fuel. The PNG pipeline in the area in which the industry is located has already been laid. Now, the industry has applied for fresh consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. The industry has not yet switched over to PNG as fuel in its skelener type furnace and is using wood pellets as fuel, thereby, causing environmental pollution in the area. The industry is not complying with the conditions of consents to operate granted to the industry under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 & Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981. Also, the industry is operating its unit without obtaining consents to operate of the Board as required under 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 in the area. Accordingly, show cause notice for refusal of consents to operate applied under the provisions of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 was issued to the industry with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Sr. Environmental Engineer on 11/11/2025. The representative of the industry attended the hearing and submitted a written reply, which was taken on record. He submitted that earlier they were using furnace oil as fuel from the year 2021 to 2025, however, at the time of renewal of consents to operate application, they contacted Regional Office & the office of Regional Office guided that the Board will issue consent to operate on wood pellets as fuel, but not on furnace oil, as the same has been done in case of M/s Bhushan Steel Industries, GT Road, Alour, Tehsil Khanna, District Ludhiana. Therefore, he switched over the unit on pellets and applied for fresh consents to operate under the both Acts. He further informed that PNG pipeline has been installed & passing in front of the industry, but PNG supply is yet to be made available by the M/s Think Gas Ludhiana Ltd. & PNG is very costly as compare to wood pellets. However, PNG is not viable and requested for grant of consents to operate to the industry. After hearing the officer of the Board and Representative of the industry, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-II, Patiala decided that: 1. The fresh consent to operate applied by the industry under both the Acts may be granted to the industry for shorter period i.e. upto 31/03/2026 with suitable conditions and special conditions that: a. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Fatehgarh Sahib shall carryout the monitoring of stack emissions as per protocol prescribed by the Board. b. The industry shall make credible efforts to shift its unit to PNG as fuel before 31/03/2026. c. The industry shall be bound to comply with orders of Hon’ble NGT in the matter of OA no. 1358 of 2024 titled as Archit Arora Vs State of Punjab & Ors, please. 2. It is made clear to the industry that in case, the Hon’ble NGT vide its order in the matter of OA no. 1358 of 2024 titled as Archit Arora Vs State of Punjab & Ors made it mandatory to shift to PNG then these consents to operate shall be deemed cancelled and Board shall not be responsible for any financial liability incurred by the industry due to switching over to wood pellets. If approved, the proceedings may be conveyed to the industry as well as Regional Office for ensuring compliance but before issuance, concurrence of Competent Authority of the Board may be obtained, please................
Competency: Chairperson Ma’am |
