No PPCB extension to erring units

LUDHIANA: The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) would not grant extension to the industrial units in city that so far have not disposed-off the sludge stored on their premises. The board has taken this decision in view of the fact that hundreds of industrial units in city have harmful sludge stored on their campuses.
Earlier, the board had asked these units to store the chemical sludge, a remnant of the treated waste water, as there was no plant available in the vicinity that could dispose-off the sludge in the rightful manner.
However, recently a plant was set up at village Nimbua for safe disposal of the industrial sludge and the board opines that all units should now dispose-off the waste material stored with them.
Kapil Janjua, marketing head at the Nimbua plant confirmed that many of the industrial units had started disposing the sludge at the plant. He added, ���According to PPCB there are more than 1,800 units in the state that use chemicals in their processes and the sludge produced therein cannot be disposed out in the open.���
He informed that of the total industrial units identified by the board only 440 units have gained membership of the plant. The plant had disposed 40,000 tonne of sludge till now. And, approximately 70,000 tonne of sludge is still lying with the units, said Kapil.
He informed that to be a member of the plant, units have to pay a fees of Rs 10,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,00000 for small scale, medium scale and large scale industries respectively.
Notably, seven leading industrialists in city had taken the initiative to construct the plant at Nimbua that runs on no-profit-no-loss basis. The plant had been constructed on 21 acre of land.