Uncertainty, anxiety and confusion seem to be close associates of Anand Parbat businessmen. Earlier, they were confused about the status of their area--nobody knew whether it was a conforming or non-conforming industrial area. If it was a conforming area, construction of a CETP was mandatory. If not, relocation of industrial units was the only option. Government bodies did not have one view regarding this issue. The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) recognised Anand Parbat as a conforming industrial area; the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) did not. Fortunately, that ambiguity has come to an end. "The MCD has now renewed industriallicences, though on an ad hoc basis," says Sant Lal Gupta, general secretary, Anand Parbat Industrial Area CETP Society.

Then there were also dissensions within the business community in the area regarding the construction of the CETP. "The differences, too, have been ironed out," says Gupta.

But these positive developments have not ended the uncertainties of industry in the area. Though the area has been tacitly accepted by the authorities as a conforming one--otherwise there would have been no move to install a CETP--there has not been satisfactory progress in building the plant. The land earmarked for the CETP has been acquired by the DDA and handed over to DSIDC. The petrol pump which was situated there has been evacuated. But DSIDC, allege local businessmen, has done nothing to take possession of the land.

There are several shops and hutments on the earmarked plot. Local politicians have already started championing the cause of the "poor people" who have encroached upon land. "Evacuation is notgoing to be an easy task, but what is worse is that there is also a danger of new encroachments," says a businessman.

So far, there is only encroachments on 10 per cent of the allotted land, points out S K Tandon, general secretary of the local entrepreneurs' body, the New Rohtak Road Manufacturers Association. "But DSIDC should take over 90 per cent of the land."

DSIDC, however, has a different story to tell. "We have decided to construct CETPs in a piecemeal fashion," says Sudarshan Sareen, chairman, DSIDC. "Instead of starting the work on all the 15 CETPs together, we would build them one-by-one. At present, we are constructing CETPs at Wazirpur and Mongol Puri. We'll take the Anand Parbat area in due course."

But entrepreneurs at Anand Parbat feel that such an approach is a "clear violation" of the Supreme Court order according to which all land for CETPs was to be acquired by February 15, 1997. "Even if we accept the logic of DSIDC, we would like to know why money was taken from industrialists,"argues Tandon. Twenty per cent of contribution of units has been collected by the government. "They should have collected money from us as and when work on the CETP starts."

Entrepreneurs also allege that some officials are protecting a few shopkeepers in the earmarked land.

The worst part is that now businessmen of the area have started asking what has happened to their money. "We as office bearers of the association took the responsibility to collect money," says Gupta. "We are answerable to the business community here, but we have no convincing answers."

Entrepreneurs lament that not even a proper beginning has been made in the direction of construction of the CETP. Construction, too, is going to be a tricky proposition. They also doubt the veracity of the reports prepared by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (Neeri), Pune, regarding cost apportionment and toxicity and quantity of discharge from various units in the area. Further, industrial effluents mix with sewage fromresidential colonies. "Why should we pay for the treatment of household discharge?" asks Gupta.

Meanwhile, thanks to the indifference of DSIDC, garbage gathers on the land earmarked for the CETP.