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Sub: Proceedings of the personal hearing given by Chief Environmental Engineer of the Board on 16.04.2026 w.r.t show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 - M/s Viraat Textile, Village - Takhran, Machiwara Road, Ludhiana.
The following were present:
On behalf of Punjab Pollution Control Board:
Er. Vijay Kumar, Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana
On behalf of industry:
Sh. Vikram Takkar, Partner
Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal Office-1, Ludhiana brought out that the industry is a medium scale red category dyeing unit and was granted consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 dated 20/05/2022 valid upto 30/09/2026 for discharge of effluent@ 310 KLD onto land for plantation and under Air Act, 1981 dated 10/10/2019 upto 30/06/2024 for production of Knitted Fabric @2000Kgs/day, Dyeing of Yarn/Fiber @5500Kgs/day, Dyeing of Fabric @600Kgs/day, Printing of Fabric @2000Kgs/day, Finishing of Fabric @2000Kgs/day with installation of Package boiler @4TPH having Fuel as WOOD @4.0T/day or rice husk or agri waste @4.0T/day.
The industry was visited by the officer of the Board on 07.08.2025 and it was observed as under:
1. The industry has installed cone dyeing machinery of various loads for yarn dyeing.
2. During visit, stack emission sampling was carried out and results of stack emission samples are beyond prescribed limits.
3. The industry has installed additional Boiler of capacity 4 TPH with pet coke as fuel which is not consented.
The industry had applied for varied consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 for additional Packaged Boiler @ 4TPH Capacity using pet coke as fuel @ 3T/day.
Show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 has been issued to industry with hearing before the CEE, Ludhiana on 23.09.2025, wherein it was decided that:-
1. The present application filed by the industry for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 for using pet coke as well as rice husk/ wood / agro waste as fuel is refused.
2. The industry shall not use pet coke as fuel in its boiler as the industry has not upgraded its pollution control system to achieve revised standards prescribed by the MoEF&CC.
3. The industry shall apply afresh for obtaining consent to operate under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for the fuel that it intends to use (rice husk/ wood / agro waste).
4. The industry shall provide adequate APCD with the boiler and shall operate it regularly and efficiently so as to achieve the desired standards as prescribed by the MoEF&CC (in case wood is used- SPM standards are 150 mg/Nm3 and in case agro waste is used - SPM standards are 250 mg/Nm3).
5. The industry shall take following additional measures for abatement of air pollution from their unit:-
a) APCD shall be equipped with rotary valve and ensure regular removal of APCD dust.
b) APCD shall be provided with the separate electric energy meter and daily record of energy consumed shall be maintained.
c) Install CCTV cameras focused towards the boiler stack and fuel feeding for self- monitoring of emissions and maintain atleast 30 days footage for the same and make in-house online monitoring mechanism to ensure that there is no black smoke.
d) Mechanized fuel feeding system shall be inplace and in operation.
e) Only authorized fuel for which consent has been granted is to be used.
f) Fuel should not be moistured or wet. For that, quality of fuel shall be monitored regularly and a covered shed should be provided for fuel storage.
g) The industry shall make proper and covered arrangements for scientific storage and handling of boiler ash to avoid its dispersion in the plantation area and prevent fugitive emissions as well as for its scientific disposal.
6. The industry shall submit fresh Bank Guarantee amounting to Rs. 1.0 lac as an assurance to achieve the prescribed emission standards of the Board and MoEF&CC and for complying with above decisions mentioned at serial no. 1 to 5, within 07 days.
7. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-1, Ludhiana shall visit the industry to check the contentions of the industry regarding installation of only one boiler, to verify the compliance of above decisions and send further recommendations, within 15 days.
The application filed by the industry for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 was refused.
The industry has applied for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 with addition of packaged boiler of 4 TPH using rice husk, agro waste and wood with wet scrubber as APCD and proposed shift to dyeing of grey yarn @ 6500 kg/day. The consent applications of the industry were perused and it was observed as under:-
1. The industry has installed cone dyeing machinery, ETP based on physico-chemical, biological and tertiary treatment and is discharging treated effluent onto land for plantation, with 2 KLD domestic effluent treated through septic tank.
2. As per calculations done by RO, the expected effluent is 192 KLD, but the industry has applied consent for effluent @ 310 KLD. The industry needs to justify along with calculation of expected discharge from all sources.
3. The industry not mentioned the type of yarn to be used (acrylic, polyester or cotton, etc).
4. During last hearing, the industry was directed to regulate the operational activities of different type of dyeing (cotton. polyester or PC) in such a way that the parameters of TDS shall remain within the permissible limits. Alternatively, the industry shall separate high TDS streams from cotton dyeing and provide advance treatments like RO and evaporators or Mechanical Vapor of Recovery (MVR) systems and submit compliance thereto. It has not submitted compliance.
5. The industry has not intimated status of fabric dyeing and printing machinery. Whether still installed or removed from the unit.
6. The upgradation work of pollution control system of both APCD as well as ETP is still under progress, despite plenty of time already given.
The industry is not complying with the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
In view of above, show cause notice for refusal of consent to operate under the Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 has been issued to industry with hearing before the CEE, Ludhiana on 16.04.2026.
Sh. Vikram Takkar, Partner of the industry attended the hearing and submitted written reply which has been taken on record. He submitted that that the industry is engaged in processing of Polyester, Nylon, Acrylic, P/C and Cotton Yarns. The industry has only one Boiler of capacity 4 TPH using wood as primary fuel with wet scrubber and all APCD installed & operational installed in its premises from very beginning to till now. The industry has already ordered for Bag Filter device to Thermax Limited, which is expected to reach in coming 10 days and shall be installed & commissioned as soon as possible which will further ensure that the SPM levels will not increase more than 50 which are way below the standards permissible by the Board. Feasibility report of the same is submitted with fuels like Wood/Coal/ Agri Fuels. The upgradation of APCD will be completed & same will be commissioned within next 30 to 45 days. The industry has been struggling to achieve the production level installed from last six months due to various unfavorable market conditions and is running not more than 50% to 60% of its installed capacity. When run to its full capacity with all the different kind of yarns i.e Polyester, NyIon, Acrylic, Polyester Cotton blended, Cotton yarn the total discharge of treated effluent reaches from 300 to 310 KLD. The industry is regulating its operational activities in such a manner that the parameters of TDS remain below permissible limits by processing different kind of yarns accordingly. The industry did not install any Fabric Dyeing and Printing machinery in its premises and is engaged only in yarn processing. The APCD with wet scrubber were already in operation, Bag filter were ordered in additional to the above and have to be installed yet. The ETP upgradation is also in its final stage and shall commence very shortly.
After hearing the representative of the industry, officers of the Board and considering material facts on record, the Member Secretary of the Board decided as under:
1. The industry shall carry out dyeing of grey yarn only and shall not carry out /install any machinery for fabric dyeing in the premises.
2. The industry shall carry out dyeing of acrylic / polyester grey yarn in maximum proportion and the cotton yarn dyeing shall be kept bare minimum so as to maintain the TDS level in treated effluent well below 2100 mg/L.
3. The industry shall upgrade the APCD with the boiler to achieve the desired standards as prescribed by the MoEF&CC (in case wood is used- SPM standards are 150 mg/Nm3 and in case agro waste is used - SPM standards are 250 mg/Nm3), within one month.
4. The industry shall not use pet coke as fuel in its boiler without obtaining permission of the Board and upgrading its pollution control system for such fuel to achieve revised standards prescribed by the MoEF&CC.
5. The industry shall take following additional measures for abatement of air pollution from their unit:-
I. APCD shall be equipped with rotary valve and ensure regular removal of APCD dust.
II. APCD shall be provided with the separate electric energy meter and daily record of energy consumed shall be maintained.
III. Install CCTV cameras focused towards the boiler stack and fuel feeding for self- monitoring of emissions and maintain atleast 30 days footage for the same and make in-house online monitoring mechanism to ensure that there is no black smoke.
IV. Mechanized fuel feeding system shall be inplace and in operation.
V. Only authorized fuel for which consent has been granted is to be used.
VI. Fuel should not be moistured or wet. For that, quality of fuel shall be monitored regularly and a covered shed should be provided for fuel storage.
VII. The industry shall make proper and covered arrangements for scientific storage and handling of boiler ash to avoid its dispersion in the plantation area and prevent fugitive emissions as well as for its scientific disposal.
6. The application of the industry for obtaining varied consent to operate under the Air Act, 1981 shall be granted for six months and under Water Act, 1974 be granted upto adequacy of consent fee.
7. The Environmental Engineer, Regional Office-1, Ludhiana shall visit the industry, to verify the compliance of above decisions and send report alongwith recommendations, after one month.
Submitted for confirmation of decisions of the hearing and for conveying to the industry and Regional Office, please.
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