Andhra govt to shift polluting industries from Hyderabad

Identifies 45 locations for these industries

The Andhra Pradesh government has decided to shift all the polluting industries operating within the Outer Ring Road (ORR) of Hyderabad city to 45 locations identified outside the ORR.

The government issued orders on Friday for compulsory shifting the polluting industries and optional shifting of non-polluting industries to the new locations, which would be developed into industrial estates either by the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) or by private developers.

The industry department had convened a meeting with the representatives of industry associations and industrial area associations from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in March last year and also constituted a committee to identify the polluting industries in its earlier orders.

While the government has not indicated any time frame for shifting the industries, the decision will affect either partly or fully the majority of the 13 industrial estates that fall within the ORR limits.

The new industrial areas, a prerequisite for undertaking this massive exercise of shifting the industries to new locations, are to be developed with adequate infrastructure, including buildings with plug-and-play facilities, preferably by the APIIC, the government said in its orders.

Wherever the existing units have shifted from the industrial areas to outside ORR, the authorities can consider allowing the plots of 10 acres or more abutting the highway to develop commercial and residential layouts after they provide a minimum 100 metre green-belt zone to separate the industries.