HSPCB served notices to 140 industrial units to adopt new standards by CPCB

Haryana issued notices to 140 industries to meet new emission standards, reducing PM discharge limits and requiring upgraded pollution control devices by July 31.

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Wednesday issued notices to 140 red-category large and medium-scale industries in the district asking them to comply with new emission standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in February this year.

The standards aims at reducing the maximum permissible particulate matter (PM) discharge limit from 80mg/Nm³ (milligrams per Normal Cubic Meter) to 50mg/Nm³.

The standards aims at reducing the maximum permissible particulate matter (PM) discharge limit from 80mg/Nm³ (milligrams per Normal Cubic Meter) to 50mg/Nm³.

According to officials the industries are now required to install upgraded anti-pollution control devices (APCDs), which will demonstrate a live emission model on the CPCB’s new portal starting from August 1.

According to the HSPCB officials, the new emission rules apply to “highly-polluting” industries across 17 categories, which rely on boilers and thermic fluid heaters.

“Based on studies conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur, industries with boilers and metal furnaces have been directed to rely on fabric bag filters to effectively trap pollutants, however, for cupola, pit, and oil-fired heating furnaces, wet scrubbers work are preferred other than installing a Fume Extraction System (FES) to capture any fugitive emissions,” said Siddharth Bharghava, regional officer of HSPCB, Gurugram (South).

To be sure, red-category industries are high in spreading emissions, including textiles, food processing, distilleries, cement factories among others. Bhargava added that the model will help improve the air quality of Manesar, which is an industrial hub.

Earlier in January, the HSPCB issued notices to 28 industrial units in Gurugram for failing to comply with the new online continuous emission monitoring system (OCEMS), an online system to track emissions of industries. “Following which, a majority of them applied for the OCEMS,” an HSPCB official said, requesting anonymity.

Officials said inspections have been conducted over the past few weeks to ensure that the industries use clean fuel such as the piped natural gas (PNG) and biomass fuel with installed APCDs. “While medium and large industries are required to comply with new APCD norms by July 31, the remaining categories will have to adopt emission control measures by September end,” the senior official added.

CPCB has also sought a status report from the HSPCB about the status of OCEMS in 163 red-category industries across Haryana.