1,000 small glass units face closure in Firozabad

Inadequate CNG connections from Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) have dealt a body blow to the glass industry of Firozabad, near Agra.

The industry is often compared to Belgium's for the quality of glassware it produces and exports worldwide. It is well-known for glass bangles and souvenirs produced in its small-scale glass-manufacturing units.

But, following the Supreme Court's sanctions countermanding the operation of coal-fired furnaces in the Taj Trepezium Zone, more than 1,000 furnaces here are on the verge of being shut down in these glass factories.

So, the Firozabad glassware industry is now asking for the development of a new industrial cluster outside the Taj Trepezium Zone, which is free from pollution-related restrictions.

A number of polluting industries in Firozabad, like leather tanneries and iron foundries, have been forced to either shut down or relocate after the Supreme Court directives against such industries.

The artificial jewellery manufacturers here are already in the process of setting up a private industrial cluster for themselves outside the Agra municipal limits.

The glass manufacturers of Firozabad are now citing this example and demanding that the administration take initiatives in relocating their industrial units outside the city.

According to A N Singh, general manager, District Industrial Centre, Firozabad: "GAIL provided CNG to almost all major glass factories in the town. Still, a number of small factories which are unable to afford the high expense of setting up CNG-based furnaces and procuring a gas connection were left out in the process. The number of such factories operating in Firozabad ranged in hundreds."

The operation of these furnaces here was the primary cause of smog engulfing the town each evening with the air pollution reaching dangerous levels, way above the limits specified by the Central Pollution Control Board and the Supreme Court.

According to a conservative estimate based on the information submitted by various glass factory owners' associations of the town, there are at least 700 coal-fired furnaces that are still in operation in Firozabad.

But in view of the impending action from the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), some of the factories had already shut down these furnaces while some more are contemplating of doing so.

Singh said the only solution to the woes of the small factory owners was the development of an industrial cluster that was out of the geographical limits of the Taj Trepezium Zone.

But so far, there had hardly been any administrative initiative regarding this, he said, adding if steps were not taken to relocate these units, the UPPCB action against the units will force them to shut down, resulting in a major setback to the glass industry of Firozabad.