| File Note: |
Subject: Proceedings of the personal hearing before the Senior Environmental Engineer (ZP-1) of the Board on 13/03/2026 at 11:00 AM w.r.t. show cause notice for refusal of grant of varied Consent to Operate under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 and show cause notice for refusal of grant of authorization under the BMW Rules, 2016 - M/s Neelam Hospital (A unit Of Neelam Healthcare Pvt. Ltd.), Opposite Chitkara University, Village Fatehpur garhi, Rajpura, Distt. Patiala.
The Following were present: -
On behalf of Punjab Pollution Control Board
Er. Arshdeep Singh, Environmental Engineer (ZP-1)
On behalf of the HCE
Sh. Sandeep, General Manager
At the outset, Environmental Engineer, (ZP-1) brought out that: -
The hospital was granted NOC expansion under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 vide no. CTE/Exp/PTA/2026/30208853 dated 15.01.2026, which is valid upto 14.01.2027 for increasing the bed capacity from 150 beds to 200 beds subject to the suitable terms & conditions mentioned therein.
The hospital has now applied for obtaining fresh consent to operate under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 for operation of 200 no. beds alongwith requisite documents and consent fee.
The hospital has also applied for obtaining fresh authorization under the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016, for operation of 200 no. beds alongwith requisite documents.
To verify the contents of the application, the hospital was visited by officer of the Regional Office, Patiala on 11.02.2026 and Sh. Sandeep Watts, HR Head was contacted. During visit, it was observed as under:
1. The unit has bedded capacity of 200 functional beds and was in operation.
2. The HCF has provided an ETP for treatment of waste water generated from different sections of the hospital such as IVF, Lab, OT, Laundry and dialysis section. The treated effluent from the ETP is being channelized to the filter feed tank of STP.
3. The HCF has also provided a STP plant for treatment of domestic effluent generated from hospital premises, hostel & kitchen area, washrooms etc., which was found in operation.
4. The treated effluent after STP collected in the filter feed tank along with the treated effluent from the ETP, is subjected to tertiary treatment through the installed MGF & ACF. The treated effluent is being utilized onto plantation area developed as per Karnal technology in approx.
1.5 acres land pocket near the hospital premises taken on lease.
5. The HCF has provided water meter on the inlet of ETP, treated effluent from ETP to STP and final line of treated water leading to plantation area and is maintaining the record of the same.
6. As per the record, the samples were collected from the outlet of ETP-cum-STP by the officers of the Board on 02.12.2025 and the analysis results are tabulated as below:
Sr. No. Parameters Units Results (Outlet of ETP- cum-STP)
1 pH - 7.8
2 Total Suspended Solids mg/l 47
3 Total Dissolved Solids mg/l 941
4 Chemical Oxygen Demand mg/l 90
5 Bio- Chemical Oxygen Demand mg/l 25
6 Oil & Grease mg/l 8
7 Bio-Assay - Zero% survival of fish in
100% effluent after 96 hours.
From above, it is clear that the concentration of Bio-Assay is beyond the permissible limit as prescribed by the Board.
7. The hospital has provided colour coded bins for collection of bio-medical waste at different locations i.e. dialysis section, emergency ward, general ward, operation theatres etc. and segregating its biomedical waste as per BMW Rules, 2016.
8. The hospital has provided shredders/ cutters for shredding of used needles and same were found in working condition.
9. The hospital has maintained the record of Bio-Medical Waste Category wise, being lifted by the CBMWTF.
10. The HCF has installed 02 no. DG sets of 500 KVA capacities each and 01 no. DG set of capacity 250 KVA, which are provided with canopies and stacks of adequate heights.
11. The HCE has not provided mechanical composter for the treatment of solid waste generated in compliance to the NOC condition.
It is pertinent to mention here that during visit to the area on 18.02.2026, a Garbage Vulnerable Point was identified on the Rajpura-Chandigarh National Highway, Near Gill Dhaba. At the dump site, solid waste, bio-medical waste as well as general waste of Neelam Hospital were found discarded in bags.
From above, it is clear that the hospital is violating the provisions of Water Act, 1974, the Air Act, 1981 as well as with the provisions of the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules, 2016 intentionally & deliberately.
The matter has been considered and it has been decided to take following actions:
1. Refuse the applications of the HCE for consents to operate applied by the industry under the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, after affording an opportunity of show cause notice alongwith personal hearing, due to aforesaid violations.
2. Refuse the application of the HCE for authorization under the BMW Rules, 2016, after affording an opportunity of show cause notice alongwith personal hearing, due to aforesaid violations.
As such, show cause notice for refusal of grant of varied Consent to Operate under the provisions of the Water Act, 1974 and the Air Act, 1981 and show cause notice for refusal of grant of authorization under the BMW Rules, 2016 issued to the hospital vide Board's letter no. 8185-86 dated 03/03/2026 alongwith opportunity to appear in person before the Senior Environmental Engineer (ZP-1) of the Board in his office at Vatavaran Bhawan, Head Office, Nabha Road, Patiala on 13/03/2026 at 11:00 am.
The representative of the HCE attended the hearing and submitted a written reply which was taken on record. He informed that the HCE has now made all the compliances at the site. He submitted that the Bio-Medical Waste found at dump site was not discarded by the hospital and may have been dumped by some OPD patient. He submitted the hospital is complying with the provisions of the Bio-Medical Rules, 2016. He could not give any satisfactory reply regarding non-complying of the prescribed parameters by the sample from the outlet of ETP.
After hearing the officer of the Board, and considering material facts on the record, the Senior Environmental Engineer decided that: -
1. The application of the hospital for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974, be refused.
2. The application of the hospital for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981, be refused.
3. The application of the hospital for obtaining authorization under the BMW Rules, 2016, be refused.
4. The HCE shall submit a bank guarantee amounting to Rs. 2.00 lacs as an assurance to comply with the environmental laws, at all times.
5. The HCE shall ensure that all the observations made by the visiting officer during the visit to the site of the unit are complied with.
6. Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Patiala shall re-visit the site of the unit after 15 days, check the compliance of the environmental laws, check the submissions made by the HCE during hearing, carry out effluent monitoring and submit further report/ recommendations in the matter.
Submitted for confirmation of above draft proceedings and for conveying to the concerned please. |
