Hindustan Syringes gets nod to restart production in partial reprieve

Haryana's Commission for Air Quality Management allows it to run only eight hours a day on weekdays, and not at all on weekends

Hindustan Syringes and Medical Devices (HMD) can continue its operations at its Faridabad plants.

The country’s largest manufacturer of syringes was among the 228 units that received voluntary closure notices from Haryana Pollution Control Board on Friday. HMD’s plants are powered by piped natural gas and use diesel generation (DG) sets for backup in case of power failure.

HMD, which produces 66 per cent of the syringes used in the country, has now  received a clearance from the Commission for Air Quality Management to restart production following its plea.

However it is only a partial reprieve. The Commission in its order on Saturday said that all industries in Delhi NCR that are not powered by PNG or cleaner fuels shall be allowed to operate only upto eight hours a day from Monday to Friday and cannot run on weekends.

HMD has sought permission to use DG sets in addition to PNG based generation. "We hope we are allowed to do that in very rare circumstances as is permitted for health care industry (hospitals) and that would ensure optimal plant capacity utilisation so that there are no shortages," HMD's managing director Rajiv Nath said. "A PNG genset is good for most of our large plant needs but not as yet for our smaller plants due to space constraints and other issues."

In its representation to the Commission, the company  had submitted that it carries out continuous manufacturing and hence relies on DG sets for emergency backup.

"Considering the fact that the said unit is producing crucial medical devices for Covid-19 vaccination and that the usage of diesel generator sets had not been on regular production mode the unit is permitted to reopen and resume operations subject to furnishing of an undertaking/affidavit of strict compliance of orders/directions of the Commission," Rajesh Kumar, director of Commission for Air Quality Management of Delhi NCR (CAQM) said in a letter.