National Green Tribunal
Hakam Singh vs State Of Rajasthan on 11 July, 2022
Author: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Bench: Adarsh Kumar Goel
Item No. 04 (Court No. 1)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI
(By Video Conferencing)
Original Application No. 262/2020
(Earlier O. A. No. 37/2019 (CZ)
(I.A. No. 36/2022, I.A. No. 62/2022,
I.A. No. 63/2022 & I.A. No. 64/2022)
Hakam Singh & Anr. Applicant(s)
Versus
State of Rajasthan & Ors. Respondent(s)
Date of hearing: 11.07.2022
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ADARSH KUMAR GOEL, CHAIRPERSON
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SUDHIR AGARWAL, JUDICIAL MEMBER
HON'BLE PROF. A. SENTHIL VEL, EXPERT MEMBER
Applicant: Mr. Pushpinder Singh & Mr. Prabjit Singh, Advocates
Mr. Ashwani Chobisa, Advocate for Applicants in IA's 62-64/2022
Respondents: Mr. Sudhansh Pant, Chairperson, RSPCB,
Mr. R.K. Bora, SEE, RSPCB along with Mr. B.B. Gupta, Senior Advocate,
Mr. Nishant Awana & Mr. Lokendra Singh Kachhwa, Advocates for
RSPCB
Mr. Raj Kumar, Advocates for CPCB
Mr. Rahul Pratap, Advocates for MoEF
ORDER
1. Question for consideration is compliance of environmental norms by the brick kilns in Sri Ganganagar District in Rajasthan. Particular grievance is absence of requisite consents under the Air and the Water Acts and siting criteria, resulting in violation of law and air pollution to the detriment of public health and the environment.
2. The matter was considered earlier by the Central Zonal Bench, Bhopal vide order dated 15.10.2020. In view of pendency of O.A. No. 1 1016/2019, Utkarsh Panwar v. Central Pollution Control Board & Ors. before the Principal Bench, this matter was referred to the Principal Bench for consideration alongwith the pending matter.
3. The matter was then considered by this Tribunal on 11.02.2021. Since O.A. No. 1016/2019 is related to brick kilns in NCR, present matter was dealt with separately. It was found that as per stand of the State PCB, 225 brick kilns were operating without consent. The Tribunal held that in respect of such brick kilns which were operating without consent, there was no need of any show cause notice as their operation was per se illegal. The said brick kilns were to be closed till compliance of law and be made accountable for past illegal operation also by way of compensation on polluter pays principle. The Tribunal constituted a joint Committee of CPCB, State PCB and District Magistrate, Ganga Nagar for remedial action and filing a factual and action taken report. It was observed that notice by the Tribunal to individual brick kiln was not necessary as the State PCB could exercise its statutory powers under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 and other statutes.
4. The matter was last considered on 10.11.2021 in the light of report dated 30.10.2021. The Tribunal held that the State PCB had failed to close illegally operating brick kilns and to enforce the siting criteria as well as environmental norms in permitting the brick kilns to operate causing adverse impact on environment. Even brick kilns operating without consent were allowed to continue. The Tribunal accordingly directed further action to be taken for enforcement of environmental norms and also for giving misleading report to the Tribunal. The Tribunal also constituted a fresh eight-member joint Committee to be headed by nominee of Chairman, CPCB with another nominee of CPCB as member and representatives from MoEF&CC, State PCB, SEIAA, Rajasthan, 2 Malaviya Engineering College, Jaipur, District Magistrate and SSP, Ganga Nagar to give a report about the viability of brick kilns having regard to the air quality, status and desirable siting criteria.
5. Accordingly, the State PCB has filed three reports. Report dated 11.03.2022 is that the siting criteria was finalized on 17.02.2022 but having regard to MoEF&CC Notification dated 22.02.2022, the 17.02.2022 criteria has been put on hold and it was decided that the MoEF&CC Notification will be enforced. Out of 579 units, 106 have been closed and 413 are operating. Notices have been issued to 167 units for levy of environmental compensation for the past violations. 134 units have filed response. Hearing has been granted. Total compensation of Rs. 32 crores approximately has been levied. Additional compliance report filed on 02.05.2022 pertains to action against the erring officers.
6. CPCB report dated 18.04.2022 mentions the details of meetings, site visit and monitoring of ambient air quality status, source emission monitoring, discussion with the stakeholders, estimated carrying capacity, assimilative capacity, supporting capacity and impact of the brick kilns on the air quality, apart from compensation payable for the individual brick kilns operating in violation of norms. Relevant extracts from the report are:
"6.0 Status of compliance of consented brick kilns The consented 286 brick kilns situated in the entire 10 Tehsils of Sriganganagar district were scheduled to monitor for consented emission standard of 750mg/NM3 by CPCB & RSPCB during 29th March to 8th April 2022. Out of 286 brick kilns, following 04 were not monitored as the kilns were non- operational due to issue related to raw material and labour.
1. M/s Guru Kripa Int Udhyog, Srivijaynagar
2. M/s A and A Bricks Udhyog, Sriganganagar
3. M/s Amar Int Udhyog, Anupgarh
4. M/s Kalptaru Bricks, Padampur 3 All the 282 kilns were found complying as per the consented emission standard i.e. 750mg/NM3. Copy of the analysis report is enclosed as Annexure-XVII.
The emission ranges and number of brick kilns observed emitting in those ranges are as tabulated below:
S. No. Emission ranges in No. of brick kilns
mg/NM3 emission observed
in range
1 <250 198
2 250-500 61
3 500-750 23
4 >750 0
Note: These monitoring data are not normalized with 4% CO2 as the consent issued by RSPCB (issued before the MoEF notification dated 22.02.2022) prescribed the emission standard of 750mg/NM3. RSPCB may revise the consent order w.r.t. revised emission standard and may verify the compliance accordingly.
Specific field observations:
i. All the 286 brick kilns have provided monitoring facility.
ii. The clustering of brick kilns majorly found in Suratgarh, Jaitsar, Srivijaynagar, Raisinghnagar and Anupgarh tehsils.
iii. The internal road of the entire brick kiln premise is kaccha.
iv. The crop residue stored openly, however in few kilns of Padampur Tehsil, the crop residue is compacted and stored in conical shape, this minimize the fire incidence, spread of residue on wind blow. The conical shape called 'KOOP'.
v. At few kilns, the un-fired bricks (Kacchi) are kept above the surface and covered with tarpaulin to avoid loss of molded bricks during rain.
vi. The fuel feeding rate is not uniform and during shift change (4 times in 6 hours shift) excess amount of fuel feeding is practiced, that creates poor combustion and results in blackish emission. The automated funnel feeding system may optimize the combustion process and result in fuel saving.
vii. Majorly the brick kilns operate for 5 to 8 months. To restrict the production as per the consented quantity, the operation period need to be restricted for maximum 6 months. The operation may be allowed from January to June 4
7.0 Summary There are total 573 brick kilns spread in all the 10 Tehsils of the Sriganganagar district. The district has sandy soil and presence of sand dunes. The FCBTK technology based kiln on natural draft runs majorly on crop residue (mustard) that is available in plenty in this area. The average stack height is 30mtrs. On an average 6T daily crop residue is consumed by individual kiln of 20000- 30000 bricks/day capacity. Other than the source emission, vehicle transportation, fuel handling, leakages, kaccha road and nearby agricultural activities along with the natural condition (sandy soil & sand dunes) are also contributing in increased level of particulate matters in Ambient Air even when none of the kiln was operational. The ambient air quality monitored during operational days of bricks revealed that the change in PM2.5 is negligible in downwind. The particle size distribution of few source emission sample shown a wide variation in fraction of PM2.5 & PM10 and their ratio doesn't provide much insight on the contribution of kilns in PM2.5/PM10 to conclude on emission factor w.r.t. PM2.5 or PM10.
Further, in the months (March to June) when dispersion found significantly well, in those months also the physical supportive capacity is not available; this may be due to lifting of fine particles of crustal sand (being non-cohesive), vehicle movement, agricultural activities and other domestic activities. Further, the assessment of the carrying capacity without considering the other source of pollution and environmental condition is not rationalized and advisable. As the present carrying capacity assessment is based on the physical boundary with steady state (Box-model), it needs to be further assessed in detail by considering brick kiln operation in totality viz. fuel use, fugitive emission, local conditions, agricultural activities etc. The crop residue used in loose form, that contribute in ambient pollution and also the thermal heat is not utilized properly. Briquetting/pelleting of such residue will help in increasing the thermal heat and reduce particulate pollution too. Funnel feeding system for continuous feeding of fuel at constant rate may result in effective combustion.
The operation of brick kilns in major clusters viz. Suratgarh, Jaitsar, Srivijaynagar, Raisinghnagar and Anupgarh tehsils needs to be regulated by restricting consented production or duration of operation. Majorly the brick kilns operate for 5 to 8 months. To restrict the production as per the consented quantity, the operation period need to be restricted for maximum 6 months. The operation may be allowed from January to June.
8.0 Recommendations:
1. Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board may impose & recover the environmental compensation with due 5 process of law from 165 brick kilns operated without CTO or valid CTO.
2. Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board may implement the provisions of the notification 22.2.2022 w.r.t.
emission standard, technology conversion and siting criteria. The operation of brick kilns in major clusters viz. Suratgarh, Jaitsar, Srivijaynagar, Raisinghnagar and Anupgarh tehsils needs to be regulated by restricting consented production or duration of operation.
3. The operation of brick kilns may be allowed from January to June (extended to next 15 days) to restrict the production as per the consented quantity.
4. An in-depth study on brick kiln process optimization, assessment of region specific assimilative/supportive and carrying capacity is required to suggest and prepare environmentally sustainable functioning of brick kilns in each tehsil of Sriganganagar district. Such kind of detailed study may be conducted by a consortium of the reputed institutes (like NEERI/ CBRI/NIT, Jaipur etc.) with financial support from brick kiln association and RSPCB.
5. Brick Manufacturer's Association may conduct a study on use of crop residue briquette/pelleting for higher thermal input and reduction of pollution.
6. Brick Manufacturer's Association should ensure that the fuel is stored properly and provide pucca road in operation area to control fugitive emission. The best practices to tap the flue gas leakages need to be adopted by all the brick manufacturers."
7. In view of part of the action taken by the State PCB, further action needs to be finalised, following due process. The application has surviving grievance but since part of the cause of action stands addressed, we permit the applicant to place its grievances before the State PCB within two weeks which may be considered and addressed within next two weeks. If any further grievance survives, the aggrieved party may take remedies as per law, impleading the affected parties against whom cause of action survives.
The application is disposed of.
6 IA Nos. 36/2022, 62/2022, 63/2022 and 64/2022 IA Nos. 36/2022, 62/2022, 63/2022 and 64/2022 have been filed by 50 brick kiln owners - M/s. Arshit Industries, M/s. Ashish Bricks Co., Kooldiya Int Udyog, M/s. Choudhary Brick Ind., M/s. Bhadu Klin Udhyog, M/s. Balaji Supplies, M/s. Shri Ganesh Int Udhyog, M/s. Shree Shyam Kilan Company, Kamra Kiln Company, M/s. Sonu Kiln Company, M/s. Gurmeet Kiln Company, M/s. Bimla Kiln Company, M/s. Kamal Int Udhyog, M/s. Choudhary Industries, M/s. JD Bricks Industry, M/s. Satguru Int Udhyog, Namdhari Bricks Industries (44927), M/s. Sri Balaji Bricks Udhyog, M/s. Brar Int Udhyog, Prince Bricks Co., M/s. Bika Int Udhyog, M/s. Bika Bricks, M/s. Waheguru Int Udhyog, M/s. Godara Int Udhyog, Siddhi Vinayak Bricks Industries, Baba Int. Udhyog, M/s. Mohan Lal Jakhar, Kuber Int Udhyog (old Name MM Bricks Industries), Shyoran Bricks Industries, Khan Int Udhyog, M/s. Jai Vashno Int Udhyog (Old Name Poonia Int Udhyog), Jai Balaji Bricks Udhyog, SP Int. Udhyog (Old Name Ms. Angri Devi), Bhullar Int Udhyog, M/s. Ganpati Bricks, M/s. Murliwala Int Udhyog, Saharan Int Udhyog, M/s. Chaoudhar Int. Udhyog, M/s. Jayanti Int Udhyog, M/s. Laxmi Bricks Udhyog, M/s. Choudhary Bricks Udhyog, M/s. Jyani Bricks Industries, M/s. Shri Shyam Bricks, Sriveer Tejaji Int. Udhyog (Old Name Shri Int. Udhyog), Ganesh Brick Kiln, M/s. Anmol Bricks Udhyog, Laxmi Int. Udhyog, Ganesh Bricks Kiln, Brar Int Udhyog (Old Name Karni Mata Int Udhyog), KRC (Old Name Salasar Int. Udhyog) for modification of order of this Tribunal directing levy of compensation on the ground that the order was passed without hearing the affected parties and also seeking quashing of orders for levy of compensation passed by the State PCB.
Though strictly speaking, remedy of the said applicants may be by way of appeal, since orders appear to have been passed without 7 considering objections of the said parties, without recording specific finding of violations, we consider it appropriate and learned Counsel for the State PCB has fairly agreed that the impugned orders be treated as notice to the applicants who may file response, if any, within four weeks. On consideration thereof, fresh orders will be passed within three months. All IAs will stand disposed of accordingly.
Adarsh Kumar Goel, CP Sudhir Agarwal, JM Prof. A. Senthil Vel, EM July 07, 2022 Original Application No. 262/2020 (Earlier O. A. No. 37/2019 (CZ) (I.A. No. 36/2022, I.A. No. 62/2022, I.A. No. 63/2022 & I.A. No. 64/2022) DV 8