Panipat: Coal-based industries fail to get relief, to shut down after Sept 30

Mukesh Tandon

Panipat, September 28

Local industries suffered a big setback when the Chairman, Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM), refused to give these any relief. The CAQM had issued directions in February that if any industry was found running on conventional fossil fuel such as — diesel, coke, HSD — in the NCR region, it would be shut down after September 30. This had raised the worries of the industrialists.

The CAQM had, directed that the operation in the industries should be carried out on cleaner fuel, including piped natural gas (PNG/CNG), LPG, biogas, propane, butane, biomass fuels such as paddy straw, rice husk, wooden blocks in the industries by September 30.

Besides, the graded response action plan (GRAP) would come into effect from October 1 in the NCR. The Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) has already directed the district administrations of 14 districts under the NCR to prepare for the implementation of GRAP.

A three-member delegation of the industries met MM Kutti, Chairman, CAQM, on Tuesday to seek an extension of the time period upto March 31, 2023, to switch their industries on biomass fuels or gas boilers.

Lalit Goyal, president, the Panipat Exporters’ Association, said the Chairman refused to extend the time period for switching the industries from existing fuel to PNG or biomass fuel.

As many as 250 industries in Sector 29, Part 2, were using coal-based boilers while around 150 industries are out of the city area.

Goyal further said it was not easy to switch from the existing fuel to PNG or biomass fuel. The price of the biomass fuel surged to around 30-40 per cent in the past three months, which would not be feasible for the industries.

Another important factor is that it would be very costly for all industries to change over from their existing boilers into gas-based ones as most of the industries here are medium, small and micro (MSME). For the biomass fuel, the industries have to have incumbent boilers, Goyal said.Besides, the gas boiler suppliers were limited in the country and the waiting time period to change the boilers were six months to one year, which was also a big problem for the industries to switch to the gas-based boilers, he added. The other big reason was that the state government was ready to set up a common boiler in Panipat and it would be set up by the HSIIDC, but that would take 18-24 months, he said. Pritam Singh Sachdeva, president, Panipat Industrial Association (PIA), said the industries in Panipat were already facing a crisis and now the CAQM’s directions and implementation of GRAP had also raised the tension of industrialists. The government will have to intervene in the matter to save the industries in Panipat, he added.

Were told to use cleaner fuel

• The CAQM had directed that the operation in the industries should be carried out on cleaner fuel, including piped natural gas (PNG/CNG), LPG, biogas, propane, butane, biomass fuels such as paddy straw, rice husk, wooden blocks in the industries by September 30
• As many as 250 industries in Sector 29, Part 2, are using coal-based boilers while 50 industries are out of the city area