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It is submitted that Regional Office has forwarded the case for grant of consents to operate under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 to the industry as per the details mentioned in the agenda note. The agenda note has been examined & observed as under:-
1. Regional Office received a letter bearing no. 11260-73 dated 12.10.2012 from the office of Deputy Commissioner, Sri Muktsar Sahib for sending a report relating to No Objection certificate of the Department within 15 days with regard to the shifting of the unit (timber store) of the applicant from G.T. Road, Malout to Danewala Kingra Road on his own land adjoining the plywood factory. Accordingly, the applicant was informed by Regional Office vide letter no. 6523-24 dated 10.12.2012 to the effect that the he has to apply to Regional Office on a prescribed performs along with relevant documents, as mentioned in the letter for obtaining No Objection Certificate from pollution angle. A copy of the said letter was also endorsed to the office of Deputy Commissioner, Sri Muktsar Sahib. However, the applicant did not apply for obtaining Consent to Establish (NOC) from pollution angle on the prescribed performa.
2. A Civil Writ Petition CWP no. 26201 of 2012 titled as Raj Kumar Madan v/s State of Punjab was filed by Raj Kumar Madan in the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh on 21.12.2012 praying for the issuance of writ in nature of mandamus directing the respondents to issue No Objection Certificate to the applicant for the operation/shifting of saw mill at Danewala-Kingra Road, Malout, Distt. Sri Muktsar Sahib. The Board was made as one of the respondents in this case. Accordingly, a reply by the way of affidavit was filed by Er. Gurmeet Singh, Assistant Environmental Engineer on behalf of the Board through Sh. Tarunvir Singh Lehal, Advocate engaged by the Board on 02.04.2013, incorporating the above para which is attached as annexure-‘A’. As per para no. 5 of the affidavit, it was made clear that as and when, the applicant will apply to the Board for obtaining NOC from pollution angle on prescribed performa, the case will be considered and disposed off in a time bound manner.
3. Regional Office received letter nos. 13386-90 dated 13.09.2013 and 4578-81 dated 15.04.2014 from the office of Deputy Commissioner, Sri Muktsar Sahib for sending report relating to No Objection certificate of the Department within 15 days with regard to the shifting of the unit (timber store) of the applicant from G.T. Road, Malout to Danewala Kingra Road again and accordingly, the Deputy Commissioner, Sri Muktsar Sahib was again informed by Regional Office vide letter nos. 6277 dated 07.11.2013 and 1925 dated 16.04.2014 respectively to the effect that the applicant has to apply to Regional Office on a prescribed performa along with relevant documents, as mentioned in the letter for obtaining No Objection Certificate from pollution angle.
4. Meanwhile, the area of Danewala-Kingra road, Malout was visited by Environmental Engineer along with Er. Aushpreet Singh, JEE on 22.12.2015 and found that Sh. Raj Kumar Madan has installed a saw mill at Danewala-Kingra Road, Malout and observed as under:-
a) The industry has installed one number saw mill and has already been commissioned with the diesel engine installed by it.
b) The industry has not provided canopy and stack of adequate height with the diesel engine installed by it for operation of saw mill, as electric connection has not been obtained/released so far.
c) The industry has not constructed septic tank for treatment of its domestic effluent as well as provision to discharge the same on to land for irrigation.
d) The industry has not made plantation along its boundary wall.
5. The industry was requested to attend the above said violations and to apply for consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 vide letter no. 5449 dated 29.12.2015. The industry submitted a detailed reply in Regional Office vide its letter dated 20.01.2016, which was not relevant/unsatisfactory as it failed to apply for consent to operate under the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
6. Show cause notice for violation of the provisions of Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 was issued to the industry vide Zonal office letter no. 1542 dt 08.04.2016 with an opportunity of personal hearing before the Senior Environmental Engineer, Zonal office, Bathinda on 18.04.2016, which was attended by Sh. Raj Kumar, Prop. of the industry and proceedings of hearing were conveyed to the industry vide Zonal office letter no. 1775 dt 26.04.2016 with the decisions taken by the Competent Authority as under:-
a) The industry will apply for consent to establish/ operate under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981, within 10 days with all the requisite documents.
b) Environmental Engineer, Regional office, Bathinda will visit the industry, verify the facts at site and submit report / recommendations, after stipulated time period.
7. The petition, which is still pending in the Hon’ble High Court, last came up for hearing on 25.05.2016, wherein the Hon’ble Court ordered as under:-
“Adjourned to 26.08.2016.
In the meantime, learned counsel for respondent No.5 – Punjab
Pollution Control shall file status report.”
8. Now, the industry has applied for consents to operate/regularization of its saw mill under the Water Act, 1974 & Air Act, 1981 through OCMMS. The details of the case are as under:-
a) The industry has submitted certificate, issued by Sub Divisional Magistrate, Malout, bearing no. 1253 dt 12.07.2016 (copy attached).
b) Also, as per Board’s policy dt. 30.04.2013, the Board can continue to grant consent to operate to all industries not having any hazardous process, existing and operating in non-designated industrial areas prior to the date of notification of Master Plan provided the industry complies with the prescribed norms for the discharge of effluent/ emissions. The Master Plan for Malout is not yet notified. Therefore, the site of the saw mill can be regularized subject to the condition that the saw mill would comply with the zoning regulations of Master Plan, Malout upon its notification.
c) The industry has submitted a copy of the memo no. Saw Mill/S.L.C.-1150/5812 dated 24.07.2012, issued by Chairman Punjab Committee for Wood Based Industry-cum-Chief Conservator of Forests (FC), Punjab (copy attached).
d) The permission of the Central Empowered Committee, New Delhi is required only for new saw mills as per the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India Writ Petition No. 202/95 on 29.10.2002 and the industry has only shifted its saw mill from G.T. Road, Malout, Distt. Sri Muktsar Sahib to Danewala-Kingra Road, Malout, Distt. Sri Muktsar Sahib, therefore permission from Central Empowered Committee is not required for this old saw mill and only permission from Chairman Punjab Committee for Wood Based Industry and Chief Conservator of Forests (FC), Punjab is required for shifting of the saw mill to the new site, approval of which has been granted as above. (As per the Government of Punjab, Department of Agriculture and Forests notification no. G.S.R.34/ C.A.16/1927/Ss.41,42,51 and 76/2006 dated 07.07.2006).
9. The saw mill was visited by officer of Regional Office on 29.07.2016 and it was observed as under:-
a) The site of the industry is located on Vill. Danewala-Kingra Road. There is no residential house/area, M.C. limit or village phirni within 100 meters of the site of the industry. The site of the industry is adjoining to an existing saw mill unit and is surrounded by agricultural fields on other sides.
b) The industry was not in operation at the time of visit.
c) The industry has now removed the diesel engine from its premises, which was earlier used for operating the saw mill.
d) The industry has not installed any boiler / furnace / D.G. set, as such no fuel is used and there is no source of air pollution.
e) The industry has now constructed septic tank for treatment of its domestic effluent and provisions to discharge the same onto land for plantation.
f) The industry has made plantation along its boundary wall.
The industry is now complying with the provisions of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981.
Regional Office has recommended that consents under Water Act, 1974 and Air Act, 1981 may be granted to the industry upto 30.09.2020, subject to the suitable conditions and additional conditions as under:-
1. The consents to operate are subject to the final decision of the Hon’ble Punjab & Haryana High Court, Chandigarh in the matter of CWP no. 26201 of 2012 titled as Raj Kumar Madan v/s State of Punjab.
2. The industry will comply with the zoning regulations of the Master Plan, Malout as and when it is notified.
3. The industry will submit a copy of the license for operating wood based industry/saw mill to be issued by the Divisional Forest Officer within one month.
If approved, action as proposed by Environmental Engineer, Regional Office, Bathinda may be taken please.
(Small – Orange : Competency – SEE)
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