On April 9, 1996, the apex court had ordered setting up of CETPs for the 28 industrial estates in the Capital. Half the cost was to be borne by the government, 25 per cent by the Central government and 25 per cent by the Delhi government. The other half was supposed to be borne by the industry, out of which the units could obtain up to 30 per cent loan from the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI).

The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (Neeri), Nagpur, was appointed to prepare project reports with sufficiently detailed designs and to assist in tender evaluation, project supervision, apportionment of the cost project, commissioning of the project, and training the staff for maintenance of CETPs.Neeri will be paid Rs 2.35 crore in all for the services it would be providing. Many industrial units had objected to the apportionment done by Neeri. According to the Supreme Court's order of March 1998, such units were to deposit 30 per cent of the cost and the units which did not have any objections were to pay the entire amount, i.e., 50 per cent of the apportioned cost within three weeks.

"Objections to the apportioned cost were because of misreporting of the facts regarding power use, area, water consumption, and number of employees, the four criteria of apportionment," says J P Singh, commissioner of Industries. There were several typographic errors and clerical mistakes. But I K Kapila, senior environmental engineer, Delhi Pollution Control Committee, says that industrialists did not give correct information.

It is, however, not only the cost apportionment but also the role of the IDBI that the entrepreneurs are sore about. Many of them are actually not going for the loan option. "The IDBI wantedindustrialists to mortgage their properties. We find this condition objectionable," says J R Jindal, president, Delhi Factor Owners' Federation (DFOF).

But the most important cause for industrialists' resentment is that the apex court had ordered on December 5, 1997, that Delhi State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (DSIDC) would build 15 CETPs for the 28 industrial estates. "We are dissatisfied with the Supreme Court's ruling and would plead the honourable court to review its decision. DSIDC has no business to get into the construction of CETPs, as it has no competence, expertise, or experience in this regard," says Jindal. Agrees S K Tandon, general secretary of the Confederation of Delhi Industries and CETP Societies (CDICS), "If we build CETPs, the cost would not be as much as DSIDC would spend." He also believes that DSIDC is not competent enough to build CETPs.

DSIDC chairman Sudarshan Sareen, however, does not think so. "We have a full-fledged staff of competent engineers who will play a rolein the construction of CETPs. CETP societies can't boast of this facility. Then ours is a government agency whose accountability is fixed. Further, there are a lot of bickerings among industrialists. And, finally, we did not go to the Supreme Court asking for this responsibility."

That there are bickerings is an undeniable fact. The CDICS and the DFOF do not see eye to eye. The situation has got even more complicated because Jindal is close to the Congress and Sareen is a political appointee of the Delhi state government.

It is because of the bickerings among industrialists that Tandon is not insisting that they should be allowed to build CETPs. Unlike Jindal, he has reconciled to -- though reluctantly -- DSIDC's constructing CETPs. "Even in the normal course, we people are hard-pressed for time. I don't think that businessmen will be able to devote time and efforts to set up the plants," he adds.

But all industrialists are dissatisfied with the functioning of DSIDC. Says Jindal, "Recently, DSIDCappointed private consultants at a cost of Rs 90 lakh, which is 1 per cent of the total cost of all CETPs. This was a highly arbitrary action, because we were not even consulted though our money is involved. What was the need to pay such a huge amount to private consultants when Neeri was already doing consultancy. DSIDC is squandering our money."

Singh explains that the private consultants would be looking into the nitty-gritty of financial management, construction and structural engineering.