This in turn is breeding insecurity among workers, hampering production, expansion of approved plants A distant view of the Adani Power Plant (left) and incomplete unit of Alstom Bharat Forge Power (right) Isolated from the mainland, units within the Adani Group-promoted Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) Ltd in Mundra, have begun to feel the pinch of pending litigations against the developer despite the interim relief to continue operations granted by the Supreme Court. With the uncertainty looming over the environment clearance to the multi-product SEZ spread over 6,472.86 hectares, the units seem to have developed a sense of insecurity with regard to the crores of rupees they have invested in Mundra, over 350 km from Gujarat's main city Ahmedabad. Even their expansion plans have hit a road block with Gujarat High Court's ban on construction and development of infrastructure since May 2012. There are as many as 21 approved units in the billionaire Gautam Adani promoted multi-product SEZ. Out of this 12 units are operational mostly since 2009-10, while others are at various stages of development, hence have not begun commercial production. And after the May 2012 judgement of the Gujarat High Court, the work of the under-construction units has not resumed. One of the major player which is caught in the cross fire is the Alstom Bharat Forge Power Ltd (ABFPL), a joint venture between French energy major Alstom and Bharat Forge. On January 13, the Gujarat High Court had held that APSEZ violated environmental guidelines by allotting land to individual units in the absence of the mandatory green clearance under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, and ordered shutdown of 12 operational units within the SEZ. These 12 units appealed against the High Court order and on January 27 got interim relief from the Supreme Court which allowed them to continue operations but restrained them from any further construction. The Apex court also directed the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to comply with the direction of Gujarat High Court to consider the grant of environmental clearance to APSEZ with in 30 days that is by February 14, 2014. Besides this, there are litigations pending with regard to allegations of mangrove destruction, encroachment and environmental degradation from villagers of Navinal, Siracha and others. Under this circumstances the units feel that they should be allowed to operate as they individually have all the required clearances from respective competent authorities. They are also hopeful of a positive outcome. "We are facing hindrances despite having all clearances. We cannot exit as we have already made huge investments both in the plant and its expansion," said a plant head of one of the chemical units in the SEZ, seeking anonymity. He was cautious because he believes that as the matter of green clearance was in court their speaking about the issue could have adverse impact. On the production front he said that shutdown has heavily affected their output. "Because of the shutdown entire supply chain has been affected. Our product is approved by the client after a long process. So if there is delay in production here, it affects the production process of our clients also, which is not good for the business," the plant head said. V N Badoni, AVP Operations at Dorf Ketal Speciality Catalyst Pvt Ltd's SEZ unit said,"Since we make chemicals we cannot speed up the manufacturing process as every chemical reaction need time. So by increasing manpower we cannot achieve the production target." According to Badoni, in 2013-14 their production was affected twice first for a couple of days in February 2013 and later for over two weeks in January 2014. "The shutdown order by the court in January had a big impact on our production. We had to divert orders to other units in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Presently also we are under huge pressure to complete orders," explained Badoni. Moreover, chemical plant require more time to boot after a complete shutdown. Dorf Ketal's SEZ unit manufactures polymer based chemicals used in paints and printing inks. Badoni also expressed concern over insecurity among workers with regard to the future of the plant. "With the high court issue still pending workers are insecure about the future. As such there is already problem of employee retention in place like Mundra, the court directions are adding to the woes," he said. Badoni further lamented that the expansion of his unit was hanging in balance because of ban on construction following Gujarat High Court orders in May 2012. "Machinery worth crore of rupees have been purchased with expansion in mind but with construction ban we cannot proceed further," Badoni said. Dork Ketal plans to expand its production capacity from present 600 tonne per month to 3000 tonne per month. Another unit Oriental Carbon & Chemicals Ltd is also facing the same hurdle as cannot proceed with plan to double its production capacity from 12,000 tonne per annum to 24,000 tonne per annum. Not all units were willing to share information. Pune-based Thermax Ltd declined to comment on the issue and denied visit to its unit, which assembles large size boilers for export, within the SEZ. Though sources in the company admitted that the temporary closure of the unit had affected their operations and they had to get the boilers assembled in other units. Source in the office of the Development Commissioner, Adani Ports & SEZ also agreed that the litigation against the SEZ developer was hampering the production of the units which were genuine. "Because of ban on construction and development of infrastructure since over one and half years, those units which have approval are not being able to set up units. Even the developer of SEZ is not allowed to construct units," a senior official in the Development Commissioner's office said.