Haryana : Rice exporters, industrialists seek relief from stricter NCR emission norms
Haryana rice industry bodies urged the Centre to retain the 80 mg/Nm³ PM emission limit, extend environmental compliance deadlines to 31 March 2027, and provide 75% subsidy for pollution-control upgrades. They also sought exemptions for seasonal rice mills and relaxation of NCR norms for Karnal.
A joint delegation of the Haryana Rice Exporters’ Association (HREA), Haryana Chamber of Commerce & Industry (HCCI), and Karnal Rice Millers and Dealers Association on Wednesday met Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, at his office in New Delhi and raised the concerns of industries in the National Capital Region (NCR) regarding the latest environmental compliance norms. Earlier, they met Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar during his visit to Karnal on Saturday and highlighted their issues.
During the meeting with Yadav, the delegation held detailed discussions on the recent directions issued by the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) particularly the proposed reduction of the permissible particulate matter (PM) emission limit from the existing 80 mg/Nm³ to 50 mg/Nm³. They demanded an extension of the compliance timelines until March 31, 2027, for the installation of Online Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (OCEMS), PTZ cameras, and stack emission monitoring facilities as required under the latest CPCB directions along with ensuring PM emission limit to 50 mg/Nm³.
“We had a detailed discussion on various issues particularly on the reduction of the PM emission limit to 50 mg/Nm³, along with other related issues affecting industries in the NCR. We requested the Union Minister to retain the PM emission limit at the prevailing level of 80 mg/Nm³. We also requested an extension of the prescribed compliance timelines to provide industries with sufficient time to fulfil the requirements,” said Sushil Jain, president HREA.
He maintained that the industries whose emission results are already within the prescribed limits should not be required to undertake any Air Pollution Control Devices (APCDs) upgradation, modification or retrofitting, and no separate APCD adequacy assessment report should be required in such cases, as compliance and actual emission performance can already be verified through online monitoring data.
He said that the minister has listened to their concerns and assured them to consider sympathetically, and relief would be provided to the industries soon. They expressed gratitude to Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar and Karnal MLA Jagmohan Anand for arranging their important meeting with the Union Minister.
Saurabh Gupta, president of the Karnal Rice Millers and Dealers Association, highlighted the issue concerning boilers. He said that most rice mills have boilers with a capacity of 5–6 tonnes, while the new guidelines do not specify whether these guidelines are applicable to boilers of this capacity or higher capacity. “Rice mills involved in Custom-Milled Rice (CMR) are seasonal and run for a couple of months. We should be exempted from these new norms,” he added.
Rajinder Monga, senior vice president of Karnal Rice Millers and Dealers Association, said that they have raised the issue of relaxation in the industries run in Karnal, which falls under NCR. “Union Minister and our MP Manohar Lal Khattar had already assured to provide relaxation to Karnal, so we requested the minister to keep Karnal in category C,” he added.
The delegation pointed out that where APCD upgradation is technically unavoidable, industries may be required to invest between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 2 crore on advanced pollution control systems, including bag filters, electrostatic precipitators, wet scrubbers, and other equipment. Considering the severe financial stress being faced by the rice industry due to the continuing impact of the West Asia crisis, trade disruptions, increased freight and logistics costs, liquidity constraints, and rising operational expenses, the government should provide 75% financial subsidy for such upgradation.
They also highlighted that the PM emission limit of 50 mg/nm3 is for CNG operated boilers, achieving the same with biofuel will need re-engineering and redesigning of existing boiler systems, otherwise it can harm machinery and workers.
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Source : The Tribune
