New Delhi, Sept 29 (KNN) The heads of industry associations in the National Capital Region (NCR) on Wednesday signed a joint petition to allow gensets in areas having less than 3 per cent shutdowns.

Initiated by Federation of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME), the joint petition was signed by all about major industry associations of the region.

The appeal is placed two days ahead of the implementation of the directions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) which prohibits use of gensets from October 1, 2022.

As per the data collected by associations in their areas, power cuts are rare in industrials areas and use of gensets is minimal.

The petition highlights that gensets are the last resort for industries as they are forced to use it when grid power is not available, even for a brief period.

“Even though it has to shell out twice the cost for the genset produced energy. Processes in large number of industries can’t shut plant instantly and need power back-up even if shutdowns are for a short duration,” said the petition.

For areas where power outages are more, the petition has asked the Commission to direct utilities to submit time bound program to improve quality of supplies in cases where the downtime is more than 3 per cent.

Production loss due to the ban of gensets and increase in financial load are the two chief concerns of MSMEs in NCR.

Discussing the problem at the routable organised by FISME, the chiefs realised that the issue needs to be addressed State-wise and at various departmental levels as well.

Industries from Meerut have agreed to protest against the ban on gensets and set up a task force.

The petition further point outs that heating boilers operating with diesel accounted for most of air pollution in industries with an estimate of 80 per cent. Such industries have already agreed to comply with the Orders of the Commission.

The signatories included Noida Entrepreneurs Association, Apex Chamber, Delhi; Meerut and Ghaziabad districts, Faridabad Industries Association, Rai Industries Area Association, Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce & Industry etc.  (KNN Bureau)