PremiumThe commission advised the entities, including stockists, traders and dealers of coal to ensure compliance and discontinue coal supply in NCR for any kind of usage
New Delhi: Commission for Air Quality Management on Thursday asked Coal India Limited (CIL) and the Haryana and Uttar Pradesh governments to ensure no coal is supplied by multiple coal companies to CIL agents operating in the National Capital Region (NCR).
“The Commission also advised the entities/units/industries including stockists, traders and dealers of coal to ensure compliance and discontinue coal supply in NCR for any kind of usage/stocking/selling/trading in entire NCR except for Thermal Power Plants (TPPs)," said the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The statutory directions of the commission require complete elimination of use of coal and other unapproved fuels for various operations/applications across all sectors including industrial, commercial and miscellaneous applications, with effect from 1 January, 2023 in the entire NCR.
“Use of coal now stands completely banned (except in TPPs) and it is not considered a permissible fuel within NCR as per the common fuel list under the Directions issued by the Commission," the ministry added.
In compliance of the Commission’s directions, 84 industrial units across NCR areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan which were hitherto not using approved fuels, closed down their operations temporarily/ permanently on their own.
“Since last 3 months w.e.f. 01.10.2022, only 21 industrial units were found using highly polluting unapproved fuels like coal, furnace oil, etc. and those units have been closed pursuant to CAQM closure directions. Beyond 01.01.2023, the compliance has further improved and only 02 units were found using such heavily polluting fuels during inspection, thus indicating satisfactory compliance of Statutory Directions of the Commission," the ministry said.
The Commission’s flying squad will continue conducting incognito inspections to ensure strict compliance on use of only approved fuels in the entire NCR.