| File Note: |
The unit was earlier granted 'consent to operate' under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 vide no. CTOW/Renewal/RPN/2023/24084326 and under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide no. CTOA/Renewal/RPN/2023/24084317 dated 14.11.2023 valid upto 30/09/2028 for Crushing, Screening & Washing of river bed material @ 10,000 CFT/day in the name of Sh. Baljit Singh Johal, subject to the conditions mentioned therein alongwith special condition that:
The unit shall inform the Board in writing as and when any change is occurred in the Partnership Deed / Proprietorship / Memorandum of Article of Association, especially with regard to the name and address of the Partner / Proprietor / Director / Subscriber etc, and in any case the unit fails to do so and later on it comes to the notice of the Board that there is any change in Partnership Deed / Proprietorship / Memorandum of Article of Association, action as deem fit under the provision of said Act shall be taken.
Thereafter, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Rupnagar by letter no. 9641 dated 30.01.2024 has intimated that the a FIR has been registered against the unit for indulgence into illegal mining and accordingly the unit was issued show cause notice for revocation / cancellation of 'consent to operate' of the Board vide no. 217 dated 02.02.2024, due to the reasons mentioned therein, alongwith opportunity show cause in writing within 07 days.
In compliance to which, the unit submitted the reply of the SCN, which is as under:
• Sh. Gurmeet Singh, has submitted the reply to the above said show cause notice on 21.02.2024, who is neither a partner nor authorized person of the unit as per record file of this office.
• Sh. Baljit Singh Johal, 50% shareholder of the unit has submitted by letter dated 08.06.2024 that his other partners of the unit have sold out their share / part to other parties without his consent and due to this he has requested to cancel / revoke the consents of the unit so as to avoid any illegal operations.
• Sh. Supinder Singh, has also submitted letter dated 12.06.2024 to the effect that he has sold out his share in the unit and has requested to cancel / revoke the consents of the unit which were issued in his name. He has also submitted the affidavit dated 12.06.2024 in its support.
And, as the unit failed to submit its satisfactory reply within stipulated time period and was not serious about the compliance to be made as per Environmental Laws, the Consent to Operate obtained by the unit under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act 1981 were revoked/cancelled vide no. 1293 dated 19.06.2024.
Then, the unit was visited by the officer of the Regional Office on 23.11.2024, but, no representative of the unit was present during visit. During visit, it was also observed that the unit is not complying with the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 as well as code of practice prescribed by the CPCB for such type of units.
Therefore, the unit was issued notice directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide Board’s letter no. 135 dated 04/04/2025 alongwith an opportunity of personal hearing before the Chairman of the Board on 16/04/2025. However, neither any representative of the unit attended the hearing nor submitted any written reply. Thereafter, the Competent Authority of the Board decided to give another opportunity of personal hearing to the unit before taking any further action in the matter.
As such, the unit was again issued notice directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide Board’s letter no. 399 dated 16/04/2025 alongwith another opportunity of personal hearing on 23/04/2025 at 11.00 am. However, neither any representative of the unit attended the hearing nor submitted any written reply.
A. After hearing the officers of the Board and considering the material aspects of the case, the Chairman of the Board has given ex-parte decisions as under:
1. The following directions u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 shall be confirmed.
i. That the unit shall take all necessary steps to close down its operations.
ii. That the unit shall stop forthwith discharging any effluent/ emissions from its industrial premises or through any mode.
iii. That the unit will immediately stop its activities and will not restart the same unless all necessary water and air pollution control measures are taken and obtains valid consents of the Board.
iv. That the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd. authorities shall be directed to disconnect the supply of electricity available to the unit.
v. That DG sets installed by the unit shall be sealed.
B. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Rupnagar shall ensure the compliance of the decisions within 7 days and submit its compliance. If approved, the above proceedings may be conveyed to the unit as well as Regional Office for compliance.
In compliance to the decisions of the directions issued u/s 33-A of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 of the competent authority, the site was visited by the officers of this office on 14.05.2024 During visit it was observed as under:
1. The unit was not in operation.
2. The electricity connection is already disconnected by PSPCL authorities with reason as non-payment disconnection with PDCO order no. 100025484190 on dated 02.02.2024.
3. During the visit, no DG set was found at the site. Therefore, the DG set could not be sealed.
It is pertinent to mention here that a court case was filed by the partners of the
M/s R.B Stone Crusher due to personal dispute between the parties in Civil Suit No. 307/2024, which has now been dismissed vide court order dated 13.12.2025 stating that
“In the present case, plaintiff has already suffered statement in the Court on 28.11.2025 regarding withdrawal of present suit being the matter compromised. Accordingly, in view of said statement, present suit stands dismissed as withdrawn. File be consigned to Judicial Record Room Sri Anandpur Sahib due compliance”.
Accordingly, all the parties have submitted compromise deed alongwith application form, made at Rupnagar on 21 day of January, 2025 between Sh. Baljeet Singh Johal S/o Saroop Singh Johal, Supinder Singh S/o Sh. R S Bhatia R/o Village Sukhampur Tapria, Tehsil Rupnagar and Sh. Gurmeet Singh S/o Gurcharan Singh.
Now, the unit has applied for obtaining fresh consent to operate under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for Crushing, Screening cum Washing of River Bed Material @10,000 CFT/Day in the name of Sh. Baldeep Singh (Proprietor) along with requisite documents. The unit has submitted CA certificate mentioning the total value of fixed assets as Rs. 50.00 lacs dated 15.11.2025, undertaking regarding code of practice, undertaking regarding mining from legal sources, analysis reports of the ambient air monitoring sample, Ekararnama (between Kulbir Singh & Baldeep Singh), Affidavit (Halfia Bian) regarding sole proprietorship, approved site plan from the competent person.
The unit has submitted analysis reports of the ambient air monitoring sample from Board’s approved laboratory i.e. RB Enviro Laboratories (OPC) Pvt. Ltd. dated 30.12.2025 and the results of the same are tabulated as under:
Sr. No Test Parameters Units Results Prescribed Standards
Windward (near office area) Leeward (near 6 mm conveyor belt)
1. Suspended Particulate Matter µg/m3 270 344 600
The unit has also submitted an undertaking regarding code of practice and regarding mining wherein they have alleged that the unit is complying with the norms and will not indulge in any kind of illegal mining and will obtain raw material from legal mining sources and the undertakings submitted by the unit is reproduced as under:
The unit has further submitted a letter issued by Xen, Drainage-cum-Mining and Geology deptt, Sri Anandpur Sahib vide no. 431 dated 24.12.2025 regarding legal source of raw material for unit M/s R B stone crusher village Swara, which is reproduced as under:
Application fees:
The unit has deposited Rs. 14500/- vide R. No. 779015973 dated 16.12.2025 and Rs. 14500/- vide R. No. 907747715 dated 16.12.2025, against gross value of fixed assets is Rs. 50.00 lacs. As such, the fee deposited by the unit is adequate upto 30.06.2035 under both the Acts after adjustment.
Site Visit:
The site of the unit was visited by the undersigned on 14.01.2026 and contacted Sh. Akashdeep Singh. During the visit, it was observed as under:
1. The unit is a crushing, screening and washing plant and the same was not in operation. From the physical conditions of the plant, it could be adjudged that the same has not been operated since long.
2. The unit has installed 02 no. jaw crushers, 01 no. Rotapractor, 02 no. dry screens and 01 no. wet screen. During visit, it was observed that repair work of machinery installed on the site was going on.
3. The unit has covered its conveyer belts with MS Sheets from node to node as per latest CPCB guidelines.
4. The unit has provided rubber flappers/chutes at the end of conveyer belt of crusher.
5. The unit has provided sprinklers on the ramp and vehicle movement area to suppress the dust emission.
6. The unit has provided adequate plantation along the periphery of the unit.
7. No fine material was found on site.
8. The unit has provided sedimentation tank for the recirculation of wastewater for the washing purpose. The unit has also provided recirculation pump at the last tank.
9. The unit has provided CCTV Cameras at entrance and other points of the crushing unit.
10. No DG set has been installed on the site.
11. Septic tank has been provided for the treatment and disposal of domestic effluent which will be further discharged onto land for plantation.
From the above, it is evident that the unit is complying with the code of practice stipulated for such type of units.
In view of above, if approved, it is recommended that the consent to operate under Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and under Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 may be granted subject to suitable conditions and special conditions as under:
1. Directions issued by the Board for closer of the unit under the provision of Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 may be dropped.
2. The consent to operate under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 may be considered for grant for short term i.e. 6 months subject to suitable conditions and additional conditions as follows:
i. In case the unit is found involved in illegal mining at any stage or in any of the pending cases in the court of law, the consent to operate shall be revoked/cancelled under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 without affording any opportunity of hearing.
ii. The unit will comply with the guidelines/code of practice issued by the Govt. of Punjab, Department of Science, Technology and Environment Vide dated 17.03.1988, amended in 01.02.2006 and lastly amended vide no. 3/35/2013-STE(4)734 dated 30.07.2013 at all time.
iii. The unit will ensure compliance to the guidelines issued by PPCB as well as CPCB at all time.
iv. The unit will comply with the guidelines of CPCB framed for stone crushing units i.e. of July 2023 within 06 months.
v. The unit shall obtain written permission w.r.t. capacity of raw material from the mining department.
vi. The unit shall maintain the record of consumption of fresh water on daily basis.
vii. The unit shall continue operating the water sprinkler system to suppress the dust emission.
viii. The unit shall not take participate in any illegal mining activity and shall not procure raw material from any illegal mines.
ix. The unit shall bound to comply with the bye laws of Master Plan of the area notified by the Deptt. of Town & Country Planning, Punjab.
x. The unit shall submit letter from Executive Engineer, drainage cum mining division Anandpur Sahib, Water Resources Department with complete information in terms of whether any case/FIR is registered/pending/ongoing against above stone crushers regarding illegal mining’ within one month.
xi. The unit has been approved by the Board from pollution angle and the unit shall obtain the statutory clearances / permissions from all other concerned departments.
xii. This consent does not give any right of ownership to the occupier of this certificate.
xiii. The unit 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.
xiv. The unit shall ensure that the activity of unit does not create any nuisance in the surrounding areas and no public complaints are received.
xv. The unit shall maintain a stock register to justify the legitimate source of mining material its availability usage and sale etc. and shall get it verified from the mining department before submitting to the Board.
xvi. The Consent is being issued to the unit based upon the documents/ information submitted by it alongwith the online application form. The Board would be at liberty to take penal action against the unit and its responsible/ concerned person(s) in case information/document is detected as incorrect/false/misleading at any point of time.
xvii. In case the unit 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 unit.
3. Directions may be issued to PSPCL authorities for temporary restoration upto 06 months of the electric connection.
Competency of the application:- Environmental Engineer
Competency w.r.t. previous Directions of the Board:- Hon’ble Chairman
|
