Cement plants in Andhra Pradesh have been warned that no leeway will be allowed to firms violating the stipulated 114 SPM (suspended particulate matter) norm. The warning came from the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), R H Khwaja, at a conference organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FAPCCI) in Hyderabad recently.
Khwaja said 14 out of the 32 plants in the state have complied with the conditions and therefore the others could offer no excuse. While no unit in the state have been closed done till date, managements of 2 cement units have approached the courts on the issue. But, according to Khwaja, the APPCB policy relied more on persuasion than closing down units.
FAPCCI president M L Agarwal, however, felt that highly-polluting industries like cement and paper were "finding it difficult to meet the stringent parameters fixed for pollution control" because of factors like high ash content of the coal available, frequent power interruptions and voltage fluctuations.
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