Industrial units in Ghaziabad to file pleas against fuel conversion

The officials of the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) said that they have also issued a public notice in this regard and urged the industrial units to convert to cleaner fuel.

The directions were issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on February 4, and said that the earlier restriction, which was issued on December 15, has been relaxed. Earlier, industrial units were told to operate for five days a week but now they can function for all days, but such units need to switch to cleaner fuel by September 30.

“There are about 390 air polluting units in Ghaziabad and some of these have already converted to PNG or cleaner fuel. The rest will need to convert by September 30. This will pave the way for a cleaner environment and help in the reduction of industrial emission. On the basis of directions issued by the CAQM, we have also issued a public notice,” said Utsav Sharma, a regional officer at the UPPCB.

The CAQM directions said that till such time the transition to cleaner fuel is completed, such units shall use fuels that are approved by the state government.

The order also said that industrial areas which do not have PNG infrastructure and supply is not available, industries will also be permitted to operate for all seven days, but they also need to plan and switch over to biomass fuels at the earliest.

The UPPCB officials said that such directions were also issued by the Central Pollution Control Board in 2019 but the directions were put on hold after some industries filed their objections.

The members of industrial associations said that they have started the process to file representations with the UP government and also at the Centre.

“We have several issues and they include high capital expenditure in times of the Covid-19 pandemic and also how the supply of PNG will be ensured round the year. A study also needs to be conducted about the impact on air pollution and also the share of other sources such as vehicular emissions, etc,” said Rajiv Arora, general secretary of the Bulandshahr Road industrial area.

The officials of the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL), which supplies PNG, said that the IGL network is widely available across industrial clusters in Ghaziabad.

“IGL is working to further expand and strengthen its pipeline network by providing last mile connectivity for the left-over industrial areas in Ghaziabad district. We have covered all the 13 major industrial areas and plan to further expand the pipeline network by June, 2022,” said an IGL official.

IGL said that a total of nearly 450 industrial customers are connected till date and efforts are underway to commission the supplies at Tronica City industrial area in Loni later this month.