State frames guidelines for ready-mix concrete plants

Panaji: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has approved, for the first time, environmental guidelines for ready-mix concrete (RMC) plants operating in the state. The major environmental issue posed by these plants is fugitive dust emission during the loading or unloading of materials, and storing, transferring, and mixing them.
The guidelines state that commercial RMC plants must be 100m away from settlements, educational institutions, places of worship, archaeological monuments, national parks, reserves, and heritage sites. They state that no such plant will be permitted within the buffer zone of wildlife sanctuaries.
Ready-mix concrete is manufactured in a factory or batching plant according to a set recipe, and is then delivered to a work site by truck mounted in-transit mixers. A commercial RMC plant is a concrete batching plant set up for supplying RMC to construction sites, while captive plants are dedicated to a particular project.
“There should be at least 100m distance between two RMC plants for both commercial and captive categories. This will not be applicable to RMC plants located in notified industrial plots/zones,” the guidelines state.
All existing RMC plants have been warned not to expand without prior consent of the GSPCB. If such a unit applies for expansion, the board will consider it to be a new industry that will have to adhere to the recommended criteria for new RMC plants, the guidelines state. To curb air pollution, all aggregates such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone will have to be properly covered to prevent fugitive emissions during transportation.
“All containers carrying aggregates to RMC plants shall be first passed through water sprinklers to minimise dust emission during unloading in the storage area,” state the guidelines.