Agra glass units peeved at gas supply cut

GAIL India's decision to install "governors" on CNG lines in order to reduce consumption is beginning to have severe repercussions on the glass trade in Firozabad, located barely 50 km from Agra. More than 100 glass units in the town were shut on Friday, protesting against this move of GAIL.

Talking to Business Standard, Bal Krishna Gupta, former president, All Indian Glass Federation, and managing director, Advance Group of Glass Industries, Firozabad, said the glass units of Firozabad were among the highest users of gas in the Agra division, despite being permitted to use coal also.

Gupta said GAIL authorities had been asking the glass units to reduce the pressure of gas, citing the failure of their LNG plant as a reason.

He said according to the contract made with GAIL, the glass units were allowed to make a one-time increase in their gas consumption during the day, which was billable on LNG rates, as agreed by GAIL.

Now, he said when the festival season was beginning, the market demand for glass bangles, beads, etc. was in full swing, and at this time, when the glass industries were thinking of increasing production, they were being forcibly asked by GAIL to curb gas use, which was a completely monopolistic move by the company.

Already, he said "governors" had been installed by GAIL in a few units of the town and more were in the process of being installed.

According to Gupta, in the past two days, the loss to the glass units has been estimated at Rs 8-10 crore due to reduction in gas pressure in the midst of production, which spoiled the raw glass and made it worthless.

He said there were more than 100 glass units in Firozabad using CNG in production, using anywhere between 4,000 and 25,000 standard cubic metres per day (SCMD) while the five units in his group were the largest consumers of gas in Firozabad, using about 100,000 SCMD gas and were the worst-affected among the Firozabad units.

According to Gupta, even if GAIL is adamant on installing governors on the gas pipelines, the company should have at least shown the professional courtesy of informing the glass units first before reducing the gas pressure.

He said the glass units of the town remained closed on Friday in protest this move by GAIL and the industrialists of the town had now sought a meeting with the general manager of GAIL to present their case before him before continuing the use of gas in their units.