Members of Bakers` Association have decided to move the court to get an extension of at least one year to covert wooden ovens to piped natural gas (PNG) ovens. On Monday, the members of the association met civic chief Bhushan Gagrani along with Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Rais Shaikh.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court (HC) had ordered the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to implement coal-free tandoor in hotels and firewood-free bakers by July 8.
During the meeting on Monday, representatives of Mahanagar Gas were also present.
“Mahanagar Gas official agreed to conduct mapping of the entire city to mark the areas with existing infrastructure and areas having infrastructure deficit,” said Shaikh.
“Also, we have discussed to get a 30 per cent subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME),” he added.
Ashfak Siddique, head of the Mumbai South Division of Bombay Bakers Association told Mid-day, “The time which was given to convert firewood base ovens into PNG ones is much less as we need to change the ovens. We have requested BMC to convey this issue to the court.”
“Also, we have decided to file a review petition to get a one-year period to convert the ovens to PNG base fuels. We also requested BMC to help us to get a subsidy [on fuels],” Siddique added.
On August 22, 2024, Mid-day had reported that the Bombay Environmental Action Group (BEAG) has found in a six-month-long research, that 47.10 per cent of the 200 surveyed registered bakeries predominantly use wood as fuel, primarily sourced as scrap wood from old furniture and dilapidated buildings wooden material due to its lower cost compared to logwood.
Larger wood-consuming bakeries reported daily usage of 250 to 300 kg of wood, while the average wood consumption for wood-fired bakeries was approximately 130 kg daily. To process 20 kg of flour, about four-five kg of wood are required.
The cost of scrap wood is around Rs 4-5 per kg, whereas logwood costs Rs 10-12 per kg. The ash generated from wood-fired bakeries is often disposed of in dumping grounds, contributing to air pollution.
