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Sept. 30: The Pollution Control Board of Assam will hold a public hearing on October 10 at North Guwahati to pave the way for environment clearance of the capacity expansion project of the North Guwahati LPG bottling plant.
The capacity expansion of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd’s (IOCL) LPG bottling plant is important to meet the increasing demand of LPG.
The plant was commissioned in 1994 with an objective to supply LPG to Guwahati and nearby areas. IOCL sources said in order to meet the requirement of LPG, IOCL proposes to augment the storage capacity of North Guwahati plant by 2,520 metric tonnes. The public hearing is a mandatory step in the process of environmental clearance for certain development projects. This provides a legal space for people of an area to come face to face with the project proponent and the government and express their concerns. The public hearing will be held on the campus of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Abhayapur in North Guwahati.
“The available storage capacity of 1,320MT at North Guwahati plant provides a coverage of three days only, which is very low considering the hilly terrain, bad roads and considerable distance from source locations. Frequently, the plant becomes dry for reasons like low tankage or disruption of traffic. As a result, the bottling operation comes to a standstill,” a source said. The bulk LPG is received through tank trucks from Haldia, Numaligarh, IOCL Refinery at Noonmati (Guwahati), Bongaigaon and Barauni. The proposed project shall yield following benefits — to maintain continuity in supply of LPG cylinders to the consumers through distributors, ease in availability of filled LPG cylinders, increase the days cover from three days to 6-7 days (on the basis of double shift bottling operation) and help overcome the scarcity of bulk LPG.
According to the environment impact assessment notification of the ministry of environment and forests, the project will have to obtain clearance from the state environmental impact assessment authority or state environmental appraisal committee. In the absence of duly constituted state environmental impact assessment authority or state environmental appraisal committee, a Category-B project shall be treated as Category-A project and shall require environmental clearance from Union ministry of environment and forests. IOCL had appointed Projects and Development India Limited, a central government undertaking, to prepare the environment impact assessment reports for the proposed project in order to seek environmental clearance. According to the report, the proposed facilities shall be installed in the vacant land available within the existing premises of bottling plant.
“There is no point and non-point source of emission or discharge of pollutants and hence, no adverse impact on the biological environment is envisaged because of the proposed project activities and operation. Moreover, a considerable area of the plant has already been brought under the green belt which provides food and habitat for birds and smaller mammalian species,” the report said.
The report said there would be no solid and hazardous waste generation because of the proposed project. The concentration of air pollutants is also well within the prescribed limits. The report said the entire process of receipt, storage and filling of cylinders is carried out under leak-proof system to restrict any emission of hydrocarbon vapours in the atmosphere.