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It is submitted that the industry is cold store, which falls under small scale green category and was earlier granted consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 vide no. SGR/WPC/03/341 dated 20.02.2003 valid upto 30.03.2004 and SGR/APC/99/166 dated 31.03.1999 valid upto 30.03.2000 under green category, for operation of cold store with certain conditions mentioned therein. Thereafter, the industry is failed to apply for obtaining consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act,1981.
Earlier a show cause notice was issued to the cold store for violation of the provisions of Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Barnala on 29.05.2025, wherein it was decided as under: -
1. The unit shall apply for consent to operate under the Water Act,1974 and the Air Act,1981, within 15 days.
2. The Assistant Environmental Engineer shall visit the unit after 15 days to verify the compliance made by it.
3. It is made clear to the representative of the industry that in case of non-compliance of the above said decisions as well as Environmental Laws, further action as deemed fit under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 shall be taken without affording any further notice/ opportunity of personal hearing.
Proceedings of the personal hearing conveyed to the industry vide letter no. 1629 dated 03.06.2025 for compliance.
To check the compliance of hearing decisions taken on 29.05.2025, the unit was visited by officer of this office on 15.09.2025 and the following observations were made: -
1. During the visit, Mr. Naresh Kumar, representative of the unit, was present.
2. The industry was found in operation during the visit
3. The cold store has made 2 chambers (1st chamber with 05 floors & 2nd chamber with 06 floors) of total storage capacity of 1,40,000 bags.
4. The unit has installed 1 no. DG set of 10 KVA without an acoustic enclosure and with inadequate stack height.
5. The unit has installed 1 no. borehole for extraction of groundwater without a water meter.
6. The cold store has installed refrigeration compressor 2 no. cooling motors of capacity 75 HP each, which are used to maintain low temperature inside the cold storage chambers.
7. The cold storage has no source of trade effluent generation. Cooling water/condensed water is recirculated and excess quantity of it is dispose off onto farmland just adjacent to the cold store. Domestic effluent is being discharge onto land for plantation.
8. The industry has not applied for the Consent to Operate under the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981, so for.
From above, it is found that the industry intentionally & deliberately violating the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 and failed to comply with the decisions of personal hearing taken by the SEE, ZO-2, Patiala on 29.05.2025.
Accordingly, show cause notice for violation of the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 was issued to the industry alongwith an opportunity of personal hearing before the SEE, ZO-II, Patiala on 05/01/2026. However, no one from the industry attended the personal hearing on the said date.
The matter was considered by the Competent Authority and it has been decided to give another opportunity of hearing before the SEE, ZO-II, Patiala on 22/01/2026.
The representative of the industry attended the hearing and submitted written reply, which was taken on record. He requested to grant 15 days to apply for obtaining consents to operate of the Board under the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981. He assured to comply with the observation made by the visiting officer of the Board within 15 days.
After hearing the officer of the Board and representative of the industry, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-2, Patiala decided as under:
1. The industry shall apply for obtaining consents to operate of the Board under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 alongwith requisite documents within 15 days.
2. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Barnala shall verify the contentions made by the industry during hearing, process the consent application and send the report/ recommendations, accordingly after 15 days.
3. It was made clear to the industry that if any violation under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 is observed by the visiting officer in future, action as deemed fit under the provisions of said Acts shall be taken without any further opportunity/ notice.
Now the establishment has applied for consent to operate under the Water Act 1974 & Air Act, 1981 for operation of the cold store having storage capacity @ 1,25,000 no. bags per season. The detail of the case is as under:
• The establishment has deposited consent fee of Rs. 1,31,000/- vide no. 415189332 dated 26.02.2026 under the Water Act, 1974 and Rs. 1,35,000/- vide no. 193357929 dated 26.02.2026 under the Air Act, 1981, against the value of total fixed assets amounting Rs. 82.84 lacs as per CA certificate dated 29.12.2025. The consent fees deposited by the unit are adequate upto 31.12.2030 under both Acts.
• The establishment has submitted partnership deed executed on 10.10.1994, as per which there are 03 no. partners running the firm Sh. Jiwan Kumar s/o Sh. Hukam Chand, Sh. Mohan Lal s/o Sh. Hukam Chand and Sh. Ashwani Kumar s/o Sh. Hukam Chand.
• The establishment has submitted building plan approved by Director of Factories, Punjab.
To verify the facts, the site of the establishment was visited by Er. Muskan, JEE of this office on 27.02.2026 and it was found as under: -
1. The unit was found in operation during the visit. During the visit, Mr. Mohan Lal, representative of the unit was present at site.
2. The Cold store has made 2 chamber (1st chamber with 5 floor & 2nd chamber with 6 floor) of total storage capacity of 1,25,000 bags.
3. The unit has installed 1 no. DG set of 10 KVA with canopy and adequate stack height.
4. The unit has installed 1 no. borehole for extraction of ground water with water meter
5. The cold store has installed refrigeration compressor 2 no. colling motors of capacity 75 HP each, which are used to maintain low temperature inside the cold storage chambers.
6. The establishment has used water in process and same is being reused in recirculation, hence, no trade effluent is being generated.
7. Domestic effluent is being discharged onto land for plantation after passing through septic tank.
8. The establishment has developed adequate plantation inside and outside the premises.
The unit is complying with the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 as well as decisions of personal hearing dated 22.01.2026.
Keeping in view of above, it is recommended that as under: -
A. Show cause notice issued to the cold storage under the Water Act,1974 and the Air Act, 1981 may be dropped.
B. This office may be allowed to grant consents to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 to the unit for operation of cold store for storage capacity @ 1,25,000 bags per season upto 31.12.2030, subject to the suitable conditions and specific condition as under: -
1. The industry shall comply with zoning regulations of Master Plan as and when notified and shall be bound to shift its unit in case the site fall in non-confirming land use zone after the notification of master plan and Punjab Pollution Control Board is not liable to any loss occurred.
2. The industry shall obtain permission form the concerned authority regarding abstraction of fresh water.
Competency: Worthy SEE, ZO-2, Patiala (due to personal hearing dated 22.01.2026)
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