Pollution May Cause Massive Job Losses In NCR

While nearly 10,000 units have been severely impacted by the ban on the use of petcoke and furnace oil from November 1, toxic air might drive away expats from NCR and hurt tourism business, says Assocham.

Keeping in view the pollution levels in Delhi and national capital region (NCR), the Supreme Court on October 24, 2017 banned the use of pet coke and furnace oil in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan from November 1.

It is estimated that about 1,000 units directly and nearly 10,000 allied units have been severely impacted by the ban on the use of petcoke and furnace oil from November 1, said the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham). Assocham has advocated giving adequate time to the industrial consumers to migrate from the furnace oil and pet coke to gas-based to save the livelihood of over 25 lakhs workers in the National Capital Region (NCR).

The industries (from all segments, ie large, medium and small) that are directly affected are textiles, rubber, sugar, steel, paper, packaging, forging, agro based industries etc. NCR is the major hub of export of garments and auto components. With the closure of textile processing factories, the supply of fabric to these exporters will also be discontinued, resulting in extinction of this trade from this region.

Similarly, sugar, paper, rubber, agro based industries will also not be able to sustain their business because of sharp increase in cost of fuel, as a result of ban on use of pet coke & furnace oil.

There are no clear guidelines regarding emission of pollutants such as SO2 and Nitrogen Oxide (NOx). Earlier, the Supreme Court of India had directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to formulate the norms for SO2 and NOx for the industry by June 30, 2017.