Cement, Energy and Environment

BIS ISSUES The 60th Meeting of the CMA Technical Committee, held at CMA Noida Office on 15th April 2014, discussed the outcome of the BIS Sectional Committee meeting [CEO 2/2:1] of 14 1 h March 2014, in the matter of Draft Indian Standards/ Amendments for Public Comments regarding clinker specifications. Or Subrato Chowdhury stressed that clinker specifications were meticulously worked out and most of the suggestions made by the industry were agreed to by BIS, as already reported earlier. Members unanimously decided to closely look at the Sectional Committee's approval and critically examine the same from all angles, including editorial corrections. Amendment of Cemen t (Quality Control ) Order 2003: Responding to the DlPP letter elated 28 March 2014, seeking CMA's views on the suggestion of BIS regarding amendment in the Cement (Quality Control) Order 2003, CMA based on the feedback from the Members in the matter, strongly opposed the proposal of BIS, and requested DIPP to retain the proviso to Clause 3 to the Cement(Quality Control) Order, 2003, so that BIS in its own interest and in the interest of the country expedites to the maximum possible extent the grant of certification of Cement. CMA's response to DIPP broadly covered the following: • • • Cement production and hence certification of cement by BIS is on a quite different footing from the normal BIS certifications of any product as the process of certification of cement itself would normally require longer than 2-3 months' time, due to th e time needed for completing the essential steps, namely, 8-10 days of Filing of Application with Plant Visit by BIS Officials for inspection etc, 35 days of testing time for PPC & 28 days for other types of cement, 7-10 days of scrutiny of Laboratory reports & Issuance of BIS certificate by BIS, apart from the time required for various administrat ion purposes. In view of the elaborate and well -settled procedure, any apprehension of BIS that the present practice may result in consumers buying sub-standard cement is misplaced. Cement, being a capital intensive indust ry with very heavy fixed cost and very high operational costs once the operation starts, and the product being an essential input for any infrastructure project for developmental activities, it may not be in the nat ional interest if the plant is put off for want of certification procedure. • For the same reason, the Tatkal scheme, reducing the certification time to 2-3 months, ~ill not be of much help, as this is a very long t1me for any new cement units and its very survival will come into question even before the start. ENERGY ISSUES- Implementation of BEE's PAT Scheme The following developments have further taken place in implementation of BEE's PAT Scheme for the Cement sector. Final report on Normalization factors and Modified Form-1 submitted by the Sub-Technica l Committee for Cement Sector- Further to the draft report on Normalization factors and Modified Form-1 (B.Cement Sector) prepared by the sub-technical committee for Cement Sector, and their subsequent review by the committee of the feedback received from the Designated Consumers(DCs), BEE has now informed that the sub-technical committee constituted by the Technical committee of Cement Sector has now incorporated all the relevant concerns of DCs on Normalisation Factors in the Modified Form-1 and submitted to Bureau of Energy Efficiency. The Technical Committee in-turn requested BEE to circulate the final recommendations proposed by the sub-techn ical committee on Normalization to all the Designated Consumers of the Cement Sector I following which BEE have eventually sent the Normalisation document along with the Modified Form-1 to all 85 DCs in Cement Sector. The calculation Cells and Sheets have been locked due to data secu rity reasons. Once data is filled in the General In format ion, Form I and two annexure sheets on additional equipment installation, the SEC will be automatically calculated in the summary sheet. A separate Ins truction sheet is also available for data filling and documents requirement. BEE has requested the DCs to submit the following for the years as mentioned as energy return of each plant/DC: 1. Old Form-1 (As filled during the baseline year) for the year 2012-13 (Previous Year) and 2013- 14 (Current Year) , which was used last year while submitting the energy consumption return . 2. New Modified Form-1 with inbuilt Normalisation Factor for the year 2007-08, 2008-09 & 2009-10 (Baseline year) and 2013-14 (Current Year) . This form has inbuilt normalisation factors, and has been developed now . I () f .I