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Subject: Proceedings of the personal hearing given before the Chairperson of the Board on 15.01.2026 w.r.t show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 - M/s Fitex Industries Ltd, B-29/1060, Industrial Area-C, Dhandari Kalan, Ludhiana.
The following were present:
On behalf of Punjab Pollution Control Board -
1. Dr. Lavneet Dubey, Member Secretary
2. Er. R.K. Ratra, Chief Environmental Engineer, Ludhiana
3. Er. Vijay Kumar, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana
On behalf of industry:
Sh. Sanjeev Kumar, Director
The Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana brought out that the industry is a large scale red category unit and was earlier granted consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 dated 04/09/2020 valid upto 31/03/2025.
The industry has now applied for varied consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981. Accordingly, the industry was visited by officers of the Board on 20.11.2025 and it was observed as under: -
1. The industry was in operation. The industry is engaged in manufacturing of Scaffolding & Hand Tools and Motor Parts & Hardware Goods by using raw material as Sheet Strip, HCL, MS Round, Caustic, Zinc Plating Chemicals.
2. The industry has installed 09 no. Hammer with billet heaters, 1 no. of electric tempering furnace, power presses & other general machines like lathe, welding sets, VMC-CNC section, 01 rubber sheet over lay section and 01 no. packing section, etc.
3. The industry has installed 2 no. of powder coating booths with multi-cyclone as APCD & 1 no. CNG fired oven.
4. The industry has installed 01 no. casting furnace with only exhaust fan as APCD.
5. The industry has installed 07 no. Shot Blasting machines. 04 no. machines had bag filter as APCD and adequate stack height, 02 no. machines did not have adequate stack height, 01 no. machine had APCD dust piled up below it.
6. The industry has provided 01 no. CNG fired galvanizing furnace (hot dip) and 01 no. electric galvanizing furnace.
7. The CNG fired galvanizing furnace was without suction hood and the electric galvanizing furnace did not have adequate stack height.
8. The industry has also installed 01 no. of induction furnace of capacity 500 Kg/heat with Bag house as APCD.
9. The industry has not lifted hazardous waste for more than 10 years.
10. The industry has 02 no. D.G sets of unknown capacity and inadequate stack height.
In view of the above, the industry has been issued show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 with hearing before the Chairperson of the Board on 07.01.2026.
Sh. Sanjeev Kumar, Director from the industry attended the hearing and submitted written reply which has been taken on the record. The representative informed to the chair that the oven installed in the unit is LPG fired, not CNG fired. They have already provided APCD (Bag House) with the casting/Induction furnace. The same has been installed since long and has been verified by the Board officers on multiple previous inspections. They have 07 nos. of shot blasting machines and each machine is provided with a Bag House as APCD. Regarding the observation of inadequate stack height, the stacks of 02 machines were damaged/broken due to unavoidable reasons. The same have now been repaired and new stacks have been installed. There are two Hot Dip Galvanizing furnace installed in the factory, one is operated on electricity and the other is LPG fired (not CNG fired). The electricity based Hot Dip Galvanized furnace is already provided with APCD. The suction hood was damaged earlier due to operational reasons, however a new hood has now been installed and the system is fully functional. The LPG fired hot dip galvanizing furnace is not operational. There is only one induction/ casting furnace installed in the unit, having a capacity of 500 Kg per heat and the same is provided with Bag House as APCD. The hazardous waste generated from APCD is properly collected, packed in bags and stored in a designated storage area within the premises, having sufficient space. He further submitted that they have entered into an agreement with an authorized hazardous waste disposal agency, Nimbua, Dera Bassi. The agency has been duly intimated and the disposal of hazardous waste shall be carried out within the next couple of days. The Board shall be informed immediately upon completion of the disposal. The unit has 02 D.G. sets, out of which 01 D.G. set has been dismantled and is not in use. The second DG set is a small capacity generator (4-5 KVA), attached with the furnace. They are providing a proper canopy and the same shall be completed within 5-6 days.
After hearing the industry, officers of the Board and considering material facts on record, the Chairperson of the Board decided as under:
1. The industry shall operate the APCD regularly and efficiently so as to ensure no black smoke/ emissions from chimney and achieve the emission standards prescribed by the Board at all the time.
2. The industry shall provide stacks of adequate height with the shot blasting machines as well as galvanizing furnaces as per the norms of the Board, within 15 days.
3. The industry shall dispose off its hazardous waste lying in the premises to the TSDF/ authorized re-cycler as per the provisions of the Hazardous and other Waste (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, within 07 days.
4. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-2 Ludhiana shall calculate the Environmental Compensation to be imposed on the industry for the period of violation within 07 days and shall get it verified from the EC Verification Committee and Competent Authority of the Board, immediately thereafter.
5. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-2 Ludhiana shall visit the industry within 07 days to verify the contentions made by the representative of the industry during the hearing and shall submit his report / recommendations, so as to decide the consent application immediately thereafter.
Submitted for confirmation of decisions of the hearing and for conveying to the industry and Regional Office, please.
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