Thanks to two-month-old instructions of the Commission of Air Quality Management (CAQM), Panipat, the ‘Textile City’ of Haryana and India’s leading home furnishing hub, is facing problems in completing their export orders.
The industry has been forced to bear a loss Rs.100 crore in a week. As per instructions, factories are operating only for five days per week.
The CAQM passed orders to shut industries for two days in a week and banned running of diesel generator (DG) sets in the National Capital Region (NCR). It had also ordered industries to function for eight hours a day in October last year.
Lalit Goyal, President, Panipat Exporters’ Association says that with reduced days of operation, export orders, already in production, can’t be completed and are not dispatched on time. As the air quality index (AQI) level is far better in Panipat, industries should be allowed to run in full swing for all seven days of the week.
It is worth mentioning here that Panipat’s textile industry has annual turnover of Rs. 15,000 crore in exports and over Rs. 35,000 crore in the domestic market.
As shipments are expected to delay, overseas buyers have started threatening to cancel these orders – consequently leading to huge financial losses and damage of goodwill in the international market.
Reacting on this, S. Narayanan, Member Secretary, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), said that the representation of the industry has been sent to the Chairman, CAQM, with their own recommendations. The final decision on the matter lies with the CAQM.
