Regulation of Khair wood, traditional Katha Bhatties and Katha Bhatties using boilers conforming to the Indian Boiler Regulations(IBR).

(1) Traditional Katha Bhatties shall be regulated by the Divisional Forest Officer as per provisions of the Management Plan approved by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change for the private forests closed under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900 (Punjab Act No. II of 1900). (2) Register regarding consumption of Khair-wood and katha prepared by the traditional kathabhatties and kathabhatties using Indian Boiler Regulations (IBR) boilers shall be maintained in the following form, namely :- Consumption of Khairwood 1. Date 2. Quantity of Khair-wood consumed (in Metric Tonnes). 3. Source of Khair wood (Detail of the seller of Khair wood) End Product i.e. Katha Prepared 1. Date 2. Quantity of Khair and kutch obtained. 3. Detail of quantity of Katha and Kutch sold (in Metric Tonnes). (3) The operation of the Katha Bhatties using IBR boilers shall be regulated as per the following conditions, namely :- (i) The existing kathabhatties using IBR boilers shall be allowed to operate at their current level of consumption of khair wood, which shall be declared by the Wood Based Industry at the time of submitting application for License along with details of all machinery installed or being installed like Band Saw, Chipper, Boiler, Autoclave, Evaporator, Cooling Chamber, etc, if any. (ii) If any kathabhatti using IBR boiler is found to be in possession of unaccounted khair wood or khair wood from a source, other than legal source, its license shall be cancelled without any prejudice. (iii) The baby boiler units shall upgrade their existing boilers to IBR boilers and shall be brought under the purview of the Boilers Act, 1923 (Act No. 5 of 1923) and rules made thereunder. All the boilers shall have to be got registered in accordance with the said Act. (4) All the kathabhatti owners shall have to obtain requisite approval/ permission, if any, as required under any Act or rules. The procedure for licensing laid down for all wood based industries under rule 8 of these rules shall be applicable to all the katha units also. (5) All types of fees as applicable to other Wood Based Industries shall be applicable to all the katha units also. (6) New licence or expansion shall be allowed on the basis of principles of Sustainability Forest Development to the satisfaction of State Level Committee.