On Friday, Hindustan Syringe and Medical Devices Co., Ltd. (HMD) was required by the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Air Quality Management Committee (CAQM) in adjacent areas to “voluntarily” close its factories to help the national capital deal with pollution. However, the committee has now allowed the manufacturer to restart production. Prior to this, HMD, the country's largest syringe and needle manufacturer, sought to revoke the order and wrote to the Prime Minister's Office, CAQM, NCR and AA, and other administrative offices. The manufacturer stated that it is producing syringes, a key medical device for the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, and asked the committee to make an exception for the company's case.

It is worth noting that HMD supplies more than 66% of the syringes nationwide, 40% of which are currently used for COVID-19 vaccination activities, Financial Express Online learned.

CAQM stated in its previous order that industries located in industrial zones and clusters had been instructed to immediately switch to PNG or cleaner fuels on November 16. It was in the follow-up actions in this direction that it decided that those units that have not switched to PNG or other clean forms of fuel must immediately shut down their operations last week. The order last week took into account the deteriorating air quality in northern Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Delhi.

It is worth noting that HMD stated in its letter requesting an exemption that it has been operating with 4.3 MW PNG since 2011. But Rajiv Nath, managing director of HMD, added in the letter, “PNG generator sets are suitable for the needs of most of our large factories, but not for small factories where we currently have space and technology constraints. PNG is not only environmentally friendly, but also has Cost advantage, 13.90 rupees per unit instead of 24 rupees per unit for diesel power generation. Although no one wants to use expensive diesel generator sets (even if they meet the emission standards with appropriate stack height), compared with the 9 rupees provided by the government, The cost of each generator set is 24 rupees, but we hope we can do this. In very rare cases, the hospital allows to ensure the best factory operation efficiency, because in the highly automated process, the conversion cost of the machine restart will not only cause Higher waste, rejections and downtime also lead to higher patient risks and safety of certain manufacturing defects."

CAQM stated in its revised order that from December 13th (ie Monday), industries that are not running on PNG despite being in a cluster where PNG infrastructure is available will be able to resume operations for 8 hours a day, 5 hours a week .

CAQM also wrote to the Haryana Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) stating that HMD units will be able to resume their operations, provided they comply with the conditions mentioned in the revised order. It also noted that the order to shut down the generators was issued after the inspection on December 7 this year, and it noted that HMD had operated three diesel generators after October 28. The three diesel generator sets were used for 32 tests and supplied power for 30 times during a power outage of 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes.

While allowing production to resume, CAQM pointed out that this decision was made considering that HMD has closed its factories to comply with previous orders, it is producing critical medical equipment for COVID-19 rescue, and its diesel generator sets Does not run regularly. However, it also told HSPCB to ensure that the factory can only start operations after making the required commitments. The Pollution Committee of Haryana State was also instructed to obtain appropriate environmental compensation fees from HMD within 7 days for violating the guidelines and instructing the use of diesel generator sets.

Nath said the company resumed operations from Monday after receiving an official letter in this regard.

Get real-time stock prices from BSE, NSE, the U.S. market and the latest net asset value and mutual fund portfolios, check the latest IPO news, the best performing IPOs, calculate your taxes through the income tax calculator, and understand the best beneficiaries in the market , The biggest loser and the best stock fund. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Copyright © 2021 The Indian Express [P] Ltd. All rights reserved