Shift deadline for fuel switch: Gurugram industrialists

GURUGRAM: Two months before the restrictions on use of gensets —issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) to check air pollution — come into effect, the industries and their syndicates on Friday demanded extension of the deadline and subsidy from the government to facilitate the switch to Retrofitted Emission Control Devices (RECD) and PNG/LPG-based gensets.
Under the aegis of Gurugram Industrial Association (GIA), an umbrella body of a range of industries in the city, an all-stakeholder meeting was conducted to discuss the preparedness and the challenges in complying with the norms.
During the discussion, representatives of GIA concluded that the deadline for complying with retro-fitted gensets need to be extended by one year and that the government should provide subsidies to the industrialists to shift to PNG-based gensets. Although the industrialists and their representatives agreed upon the need to move away from the usage of diesel-based gensets, they highlighted the practical problems in making the switch to the greener alternatives suggested by the CAQM.
“CAQM concerns are correct and we do need to shun the use of diesel gensets. But owing to the present circumstances where RECD manufacturers haven’t been empanelled by the government and there’s no standardisation of cost incurred on using these devices, it is difficult for the industries to make a hasty switch to a different technology. An extension of one year of compliance with these guidelines along with necessary directions to the state government to empanel trustworthy manufacturers would ease the burden on industrialists,” said GIA president JN Mangla.
Besides, the industries also complained that the prices of PNG and LPG should be made the same across all districts in NCR. They demanded that instead of the daily cap of one hour on operating the genset, a monthly limit of 30 hours runtime for gensets be fixed.
The state pollution control board, on their part, affirmed that they are holding meetings with the industries and their syndicates to dispel misinformation and doubts about the implementation of the CAQM guidelines.
“In today’s meeting, we talked to industrialists about the CAQM guidelines, cleared their doubts and also took stock of their preparedness. If industries have certain suggestions, they can take up the issue with the government of a competent body. From our end, we’ll ensure CAQM guidelines are enforced in letter and spirit,” said HSPCB regional officer Kuldeep Singh.