An expert committee of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has agreed, with conditions, to a couple of changes Telangana government had sought in the environment clearance of the Hyderabad Pharma City project.
For the massive, inclusive, one of a kind facility the government plans to establish over several thousand acres, on the city outskirts, the panel’s approval is set to come as a booster shot paving the way for launch of work on the ground.
One of the amendments the nodal agency for the project, Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, had sought was permission for use of imported coal for boilers as secondary fuel source besides natural gas. The other change it had requested for was permitting units, in the Pharma City, with effluents above 25 KLD to dispose the same into Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP).
In its environmental clearance, in September 2018, the Ministry had said only natural gas is to be used for boilers and the methane emission has to be monitored regularly.
On units with higher effluent discharge, it had recommended: “a mechanism be developed for individual industries, particularly bulk drug and intermediate chemical manufacturing units (having effluent discharge above 25 KLD) for setting up their own ETPs, including ZLD (Zero Liquid Discharge) for better management and reducing load on CETP.”
Amendments
Recommending amendments in the EC, the MoEF&CC’s Expert Appraisal Committee, tasked with such projects, at its meeting in November said “natural gas has to be used for boilers and methane emission to be monitored regularly. However, usage of imported coal as a secondary fuel source shall be permitted only in the case of non-availability of natural gas. An undertaking in this regard to be provided by the State government”.
The project proponent need to adopt effective dust suppression arrangements during handling and transportation of imported coal. Also, 100% utilisation or re-use of fly ash generated from use of imported coal has to be ensured, the EAC said. TSIIC had cited how natural gas availability was limited in the country and causing delay in implementation of the project.
Online monitoring
On the other plea, the EAC said pharma units need to ensure input characteristics of waste water as per standards stipulated by the State Pollution Control Board for ETP, which can meet the input norms of the CETP. The units also need to establish an Internal Effluent Collection System. It also wanted real time online monitoring of the effluents into and out of the CETP and an MoU to be signed by each member unit to ensure compliance of the EC conditions.
Sources associated with the project implementation said following the EAC recommendation, the Ministry has to incorporate the changes and issue amended EC. Implementation of the project, for which possession of 9,000 acres has been taken, is likely to gain momentum.
