The Telangana government has identified 19 land parcels outside the Outer Ring Road for shifting pollution-emitting industries located in and around Hyderabad.
The Pollution Control Board had indicated 1,545 industries for shifting, but 385 of them were already outside the ORR. That left 1,160 units to be accommodated in the land parcels and the proposed Hyderabad Pharma City at Mucherla in Ranga Reddy district.
A senior official of the Environment Protection, Training and Research Institute, which has been asked to do a feasibility study of the lands, said the agency would submit a report to the government in a fortnight. He said the lands had rough terrain, comprising hillocks, and were also scattered and barren in Medak, Ranga Reddy, and Mahabubnagar districts. Their suitability would be examined and industries classified according to environmental parameters in preparation of the report.
Sources said the government was determined to relocate all the polluting industries within the ORR by the end of this year. It was proposed to give incentives to those units that volunteered to shift. Pharmaceutical companies contributed the most to pollution emissions, though their share in Gross Value Added in terms of economic activities was almost ₹13,000 crore in Telangana. Over 10% of the total workforce in the factories was also in these factories. There were nearly 53,000 workers and 76,000 employees in manufacture of pharmaceuticals, and medicinal, clinical, and botanical products.
The government was concerned about the reaction of pharma companies to the move in view of the employment of large manpower and a huge fixed capital. A meeting would be convened with the managements after the steps became firm, sources said. Tobacco, chemicals, rubber and plastics, and tanning and dressing of leather and fabricated metal products were the other industries with high pollution levels in and around the city.
