Gujarat Pollution Control Board Orders SRF To Shut Dahej Plant Over Waste Disposal
The pollution control board also ordered the power distribution companies to stop electricity supply to the plant.
Gujarat Pollution Control Board on Friday ordered SRF Ltd. to shut down its Dahej unit for violating the industrial waste disposal norms and for installing a calcium chloride plant without seeking the regulator’s permission.
The state pollution board, which inspected the chemical manufacturer’s industrial unit on March 25, found two tankers containing highly-concentrated effluents for which the company had not taken requisite approvals. The company, it said, failed to explain the presence of effluents and the final point of its disposal.
SRF, according to the pollution control board, does not have the permission to send its waste to any common disposal facility.
The pollution control board also ordered the power distribution companies to stop electricity supply to the plant over the alleged non-compliance of regulations under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
This comes after the company commissioned a new Rs 264-crore agrochemical facility at its Dahej plant in the December-ended quarter. It had also received the Board approval to increase its production capacity at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore.
The chemical business being a high-margin niche business contributes to nearly 40 percent of its overall Ebitda with a majority of it coming from the Dahej plant, two analysts told BloombergQuint requesting anonymity.
BloombergQuint’s emailed queries and calls to the company remained unanswered. SRF is in the process of filing a detailed response to the Board, it said in a press release.
SRF’s business is divided into verticals like industrial textiles, refrigerants, chemicals, plastics and packaging. The company has four plants and gets close to 30 percent of its overall revenue from the chemical business, according to its financials for the December-ended quarter.