GHAZIABAD: Residents of Crossings Republik no longer wake up to bright sunny mornings. The sky is not to blame, their window panes are.The residents have been complaining that black soot have been accumulating in window panes, balconies and every corner of their houses because of pollutants emitted from a factory of the Continental Carbon India Ltd (CCIL) in the vicinity.“For the past fortnight, we have been seeing black soot all over the place in our township every morning. It is everywhere on the terrace floor, window panes, curtains and the walls,” said Vikas Kamboj, a resident. “Just imagine. This is the air our children are breathing and the problem is going to worsen in the days to come when winter sets in,” he added.Many residents took to social networking sites to highlight the problem and posted photos. “We have lodged a complaint on the ‘jan sunvhai’ portal and apprised the administration of the problem,” said Ravi Agarwal, another resident. The residents have been demanding that the administration take strict action against CCIL, which is located along NH-24 in Bulandsahr industrial area.This is not the first time that CCIL has been under scanner for pollution. Similar complaints had prompted the district pollution board to carry out an inspection at the CCIL factory last year. Based on recommendations after the inspection, the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board had ordered that production be stalled at the factory.“The representatives of the factory have always denied that the problem is because of them. But there have been at least two occasions in the recent past when the factory had to be closed down for flouting green norms,” said Sanjay Jha, secretary of the Apartment Owners Association(AOA).AP Abraham, senior general manager of CCIL, denied that the accumulating soot had anything to do with his company. “We have installed an effluent online monitoring system through which the pollution board gets an alert whenever pollutants are discharged from our factory. Being a company of international repute, we adhere to strict pollution control measures. To suggest that the pollution is being caused by our factory is wrong,” said the company official.Told that the factory had been closed down for flouting pollution norms in the past, Abraham said: “Since then, we have taken a number of measures to check emissions and upgraded a mechanism to tackle pollution. There has been no such case.”District magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said the factory could be closed again if it was found to violate green norms. “We will carry out inspection of the industry and if violation is found, we will recommend to the UPPCB to close down the factory like last year,” Maheshwari said.

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