32 factories in Gujarat and West Bengal close down
More than 80,000 women lost jobs
Investment worth Rs 1500 crore likely to become NPA
Mumbai: Even though the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and its former Governor Raghuram Rajan have clearly warned that the economic situation is not very rosy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his colleague in union cabinet have turned a deaf ear to them. Besides hurling – often unsubstantiated – claimed that there is no economic slowdown, people are not losing their jobs, more employment opportunities are being created, and now the country is sending rockets to the moon – there is little to prove them correct at the ground level.
In the latest shocker, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) through a notification abruptly shut down 32 units of Micro Small Industries from September 1 this year. With this jolt from the MoEF, around 80,000 employees – mostly women – at one shot lost their jobs. Plus, these units having massive investments worth over Rs 1500 crore, is likely to become Non Performing Assets (NPAs).
It may be recalled that the MoEF, while justifying the ban on import of virgin plastic, pointed out that India generates 25,940 tonnes of waste plastic everyday. Hence, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and Export Oriented Units (EOUs) must substitute their raw material – that is, Imported Virgin Plastic Waste with Domestic Indian post consumer waste.
Speaking with TheNews21, Joseph John, office bearer of All India Plastic Waste Recyclers Association (AIPWRA), alleged that “the MoEF notification is arising out of misconceptions an falsehood spread by capitalist using NGOs”.
“The same situation cropped up in 2016 and the then Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar had permitted imports of the same material. We are in this business since last 27 years. We have proved that virgin plastic does not pollute either air or water. Then, what is the rationale behind the MoEF’s shocking move? This has directly hit employment to over 80,000, mostly women…” Joseph countered.
He said that if the circular is not withdrawn immediately, “it will massacre all the 32 Micro Small Industries units under EOUs and SEZs, plus render more than 20,000 families starving without livelihood.
“Our own financial and enterprenurial investments of approximately Rs 1500 cr will become NPA. Our situation is akin to the debt-ridden farmers of Maharashtra… Even we shall have no options but to commit suicide,” warned Joseph.
A distraught worker from a Kandla unit which has shut down, said that several employees are from backward class.
“We have even bought houses under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) taking loans. Now, if we fail to clear the loan EMIs, the banks could seize our homes and throw us on the roads with our families” rued the employee, requesting anonymity for obvious reasons.
Explaining the difference between post-consumer plastic waste and post-industrial plastic waste – the latter which is called as ‘virgin waste’, Joseph said the plastic material which we Indian’s throw away or hand over to the kabadis is post-consumer or used plastic.
Many a times, it contains some pollutants or comprises semi-plastic contaminations like Nylon, PVC along with non plastic contaminations like food, calcium, wood shavings and metal particles.
“Due to non separatability of these constituents, the manufactured product using these wastes substantially weakens the tensile strength of the finished product. Hence, this product does not meet the global standards and cannot compete in global market,” Joseph said.
N K Surana, other office bearer of the association said: “We import virgin plastic waste from different countries to use in our finished products. It is not so easy to import post industrial waste (virgin), as it goes for various uses in India. Our licensed capacities are capped since 1997 and our imports for processing are allowed only under stringent conditions.”
He added that every cargo of imported virgin plastic undergoes chemical testing by the Customs at government-approved laboratories under Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers at Central Institute of Plastic Engineering & Technology (CIPET), located in different cities across the country.
These tests certify “virgnity and non hazardous” nature of every single raw material cargo which the Indian units import, said Surana.
“Our Net Foreign Exchange (NFE) positivity is a precondition for our governnance. Hence sizeable portion of our finished goods are exported out of the country. Whatever, we are allowed to sell in India as recycled plastic granules are freely movable and traded across the world under open general category,” Surana added.
He claimed that every gram of post industrial waste imported by them is processed and recycled in their factories.
“When we recycle virgin waste, the finished good is in the form of recycled polymer – granules, which is also freely traded in India and abroad. The said recycled polymer is used in blending with virgin polymer for manufacturing irrigation pipes, overhead loft water tanks, footwear, road barricades etc by micro and cottage industries, which in turn generate employment for thousands of worker in unorganized sector,” said Surana.
These virgin plastic recycling units are located in Kandla, Baroda, Umargaon, Jamnagar in Gujarat, five units in West Bengal at FALTA and one in Noida.
