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It is submitted that the industry is a biomass plant engaged in generation of Electricity /Electric Power using Biomass (Paddy Straw) as fuel established in land area of 194 kanals 1.5 marlas (24.25 acres) in the revenue estate of Village Sedha Singh Wala, Tehsil Jaitu & District Faridkot to generate Electric Power @ 18 MW
The industry has obtained Environmental Clearance from SEIAA Punjab vide no. DECC/SEIAA/2019/953 dated 02.12.2019 as required under the EIA notification dated 14.09.2006 and its subsequent amendments.
The industry has obtained Consents to operate under Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 of the Board vide no. CTOW/Fresh/FDK/2020/11825855 & CTOA/Fresh/FDK/2020/11805469 dated 24/01/2020 for a period upto 31/03/2024 which has been extended from time to time. Lastly the industry has been granted Consents to operate under Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 by the Board vide letter no. CTOW/Renewal/FDK/2025/25390614 and CTOA/Renewal/FDK/2025/28846372 dated 24/07/2025 with validity upto 23/01/2026 for operation of the 80 TPH boiler for generation of 18 MW electricity using paddy straw @ 17 TPH as fuel with special conditions that:
1. The industry shall provide adequate plantation i.e. 33% of the total area of the unit to comply with the EC condition, within 02 months.
2. The industry shall peruse the matter with SEIAA/ MOEF (as already applied on Parivesh Portal) and shall get the condition regarding achievement of emissions standards @ 30 mg/Nm3 amended within 2 months or else shall upgrade APCD to achieve the emission standards @ 30 mg/Nm3.
3. The industry shall ensure to achieve the prescribed emission standards at all times.
4. The industry shall submit a comprehensive action plan for the disposal of its fuel ash with GPS enabled vehicles so as to trace the fuel ash disposal vehicles at any times.
5. The industry shall submit details regarding total land available (within the premises as well as outside the premises) for the disposal of its fuel ash along-with the carrying capacity of the said land area.
6. The industry shall engage an environmental expert to carry out its day to day activities
related to the environment and shall submit the details of the same to the Regional Office, Faridkot of the Board.
7. The project proponent of the industry shall devise the ways & means to minimize the
generation of all kind of wastes through REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE activities. The generated waste, if any, shall be properly handled and managed as per the provisions of the Municipal Solid Waste Rules 2016 in an environmentally sound manner.
8. The project proponent of the industry shall also develop the vermicomposting/ composting to manage the biodegradable solid waste and shall not throw, burn or bury any solid wastes in open, outside premises or in drain / water bodies.
9. The project proponent of the industry shall ensure that there are no usages of plastic
carry bags and single use plastic /thermocol disposable items such as water bottles/ water pouches/water cups, plates, forks, spoons, straw etc. and single use decorating material made of plastic-thermocol or any other non-biodegradable material in the premises.
10. The project proponent of the industry shall perform / promote its Corporate Environment Responsibility (CER) activities as well as use of alternatives of single use plastics (SUP) and awareness to discourage use of plastic.
11. The project proponent of the industry shall carry out awareness and activities for the
themes / action points identified under Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for the Environment) by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
The Show cause notice before refusal of 'consents to operate' under the provisions of
Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 was issued to the industry along with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Chairman of the Board on 07.06.2024 due to violations observed during visit by the officers of Board on 28.02.2024 and 25.04.2024, wherein it was decided that: The industry shall submit a comprehensive bank guarantee of Rs. 10.0 lac as an assurance
to comply with the environmental laws, within 07 days to the Regional Office, Faridkot of
the Board. The industry in compliance to the decision of the personal hearing submitted bank guarantee of Rs 10 lac. The industry was visited by officers of the Board on 31.12.2024 and it was observed that: -
1. The industry was in operation during visit.
2. The plantation area of industry is in 6 acres and the industry has yet not developed 33% of
its area i.e. 8 acres under plantation in compliance to the condition of the environmental
clearance as well as the condition imposed in the consents to operate granted to the
industry under Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981.
Furthur the emission sample of the industry was collected by the officer of the Board on 20.01.2025 from the stack of the boiler of capacity 80 TPH and as per the analysis report; the conc. of particulate matter was found to be 138 mg/Nm' i.e. beyond the
permissible limits prescribed for such units. Notice to issue directions u/s 31-A of the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 has been issued to the project proponent with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Chairman of the Board on 26.03.2025 where it was decided that Environmental Engineer, Regional office, Faridkot shall encash 20% of the bank guarantee deposited by the industry i.e. Rs. 2.0 lakhs due to non-achievement of emission standards and due to non-development of 33% of the area under green belt. The industry has submitted demand draft of Rs 2 lac in compliance to the decision of hearing. Since the earlier bank guarantee has expired the industry has submitted the revised bank guarantee of Rs 8 lac which is valid upto 31.01.2027.
Now, the industry has applied for renewal of consent to operate under Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 for production of electric power @ 18 MW using paddy straw bales @ 17 TPH as raw material (fuel) through OCMMS along with relevant documents. The detail of the case is as under:- The industry has submitted CA certificate of Rs. 20066.72 Lakhs vide CIN- U40101PB1999PLC023197. The industry has made certain additions made at the plant during period April 2023 to march 2025 which are non- capacity enhancements in nature. The industry has also submitted undertaking regarding this. The industry had earlier deposited consent fee of Rs. 13,68,000/- (10,80,000 + 2,88,000 balance fee for last four years) vide UTR / Ref. No. 372487762 dated 16.04.2024 under the Water Act, 1974 & Rs. 13,68,000/- (10,80,000 + 2,88,000 balance fee for last four years) vide UTR / Ref. No. 656215445 dated 16.04.2024 under the Air Act, 1981, which is adequate upto 26.01.2028 as per Board's order dated 29.10.2018. The industry has submitted compliance of conditions of EC granted to it as well as conditions of consent to operate granted to it under Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981.
The industry was visited by Er. Ravinder Bhatti, SEE (B); Er. Ravideep Singla, EE RO, Faridkot and Er. Bikramjeet Singh, AEE, RO Faridkot on 16.12.2025 and it was observed as under: -
1. The industry was in operation during visit and is engaged in generation of electricity.
2. The industry uses paddy straw as fuel to fire the boiler section. The hourly consumption of fuel is 17 T.
3. The industry has installed 80 TPH boiler with 4 stage ESP as APCD and adequate stack height and sampling arrangement for generation of 18 MW electricity.
4. The processes involved are collection of fuel (Paddy Straw) during kharif season storage transportation of the paddy straw bales to the feeding fuel conveyor of boiler→ firing in Boiler (Capacity 80TPH) → Steam Generation → running of Turbine → generation of electricity supply of Electricity to PSPCL Grid System.
5. During visit, the boiler was in operation and plume from the stack of the boiler was almost clear. During visit, air emission sample was collected from the stack of the boiler, per the analysis report of the air emission sample from the Board’s lab the concentration of the parameter Particulate matter (PM) was found to be 78 mg/Nm3 which is beyond the prescribed limit of discharge of 30 mg/Nm3 as per the Environmental Clearance granted top the industry.
6. Total land area under industry is 24.259 acres and as per the Environmental Clearance. As per condition of EC, industry is required to develop green belt in 33% of the land area of the industry i.e. 8.005437 acres. However, during visit it was observed that industry has developed plantation in around 6 Acres of land within premises and 2 acres in land adjoining to its existing premises. The industry has developed 2 acres on leased land developed outside the premises. The plantation area provided outside the premises (leased land) is having less height as plantation has been done recently. A part of the plantation provided within premises is also having less growth which has been recently planted near the boiler and the other section (around 1 acres) however the rest of the plantation is having full grown trees (around 5 acres).
7. The fuel ash generated is utilized for the land filling. The ash generated is quenched using the blowdown water from cooling tower & boiler blowdown and neutralizing pit. The ash in wet condition is transported through tippers and the quenched effluent is recirculated. The industry has made agreements with various individuals for lifting fuel ash for land filling and transported through contractor. Industry has engaged 3 no. tippers equipped with portable GPS for transportation of fuel ash. The industry is maintaining the record of quantity of fuel ash generated, transported and disposed.
8. Industry generates waste water from the boiler section in form of Boiler Blowdown, cooling towers as cooling blowdown which is directly used for ash quenching. The waste water generated from the DM water section is treated in neutralizing pit before usage for ash quenching. The DM waste water includes Ro reject, recharging (backwash) waste water etc. which is neutralized with pH neutralizers before usage.
9. The industry generates domestic effluent from guest house section, admin building and industry section. The industry has provided septic tank for treatment of effluent generated from industry section however has provided STP of capacity 50 KLD for treatment from the admin and guest house section. STP components are:
Collection Tank →MBBR-1→MBBR-2→Clarifier→Sand Filter→ Activated Carbon Filter →Chlorinator →Ultra Filtration Module →Disposal. The domestic effluents after treatment are used for plantation for disposal. The plantation area is adequate for disposal.
10. During visit, the STP was in operation and a sample was collected from the outlet of the STP. As per the analysis report pH - 7.6, Total Suspended Solids = 25 mg/l, Bio-chemical oxygen demand= 10 mg/l, Chemical Oxygen Demand = 42 mg/l and O & G = BDL mg/l. As per the analysis report various parameters are within the prescribed limits of discharge.
11. The industry has provided separate energy as well as flow meters at the STP plant whose readings were observed as 688.3KWH (Totalizer)and 987 KLD (Totalizer ) respectively. The industry is maintaining the record of treated effluent generated as well the energy consumed in operation of STP. From the perusal of the record around 15-18 KLD treated domestic effluent is generated from the outlet of the STP.
12. The industry is generating hazardous waste of category 5.1 and the industry has provided room of size 20’×10’×8’ for storage of waste oil. During the visit 55-60 L of waste oil was lying in the room.
13. The industry is maintaining the record of the used oil generated as well lifted to the authorized recycler. The last manifest of the oil lifted by the industry was of 220 L dated 24.06.2025 lifted to Bharat Oil Company, Ghaziabad, UP.
14. The industry has provided DG set of 500 KVA with canopy and adequate stack height.
15. Earlier, the industry was covered under the red category large scale unit as per the industry categorization of 2016. As per the revised categorization 2025 the industry is covered under red category with category code- 114.3- Biomass-based power plants.
From above it is clear that the industry is violating the provisions of Air Act, 1981.
If approved, may the SCN be issued to the industry.
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