GHAZIABAD: In a major crackdown on pollution causing factories, the district administration on Wednesday sealed 17 tar processing kilns found running illegally during an inspection drive in Baheta Hajipur in Loni, an official said.The action was carried out following complaints about illegal and polluting units functioning from the area. A joint team comprising officials from the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (Ghaziabad), the Loni municipal council, electricity department, police, and revenue department inspected units in Shakti Vihar. During the operation, 17 factories were identified for causing pollution, following which they were sealed and their electricity supply was disconnected.“All of the sealed units were running illegally running and contributing to pollution,” said Deepak Singhanwal, sub-divisional magistrate of Loni.Apart from sealing the units and cutting off their electricity supply, some of them were also demolished, he added.“Earlier, we have seen that once sealing is done, the workers sneak in and carry on with the polluting work. Sealing alone is not deterrent enough for those running these units. Hence, the kilns were destroyed by the enforcement team,” said the SDM.He added that strict action will be taken against repeat offenders, including the registration of an FIR against the concerned persons. Similar enforcement drives will continue in the coming days, he said.Around 30 such polluting units have already been sealed by the authorities this year, authorities said. The action on Wednesday constituted one of the largest enforcement operation in a single day in recent months.Similar action was taken earlier this week with the administration sealing four air-polluting units in Loni’s Krishna Vihar colony on Monday.The crackdown comes days after Loni was ranked the world’s most polluted city in the World Air Quality Report 2025. The eighth edition of the report, published by IQAir, a Swiss air quality technology firm, analysed data from monitoring stations across 9,446 cities in 143 countries, regions and territories.An industrial township on the outskirts of Ghaziabad, bordering the national capital, Loni’s deteriorating air quality has been linked to a mix of factors — industrial emissions, brick kilns, construction dust and vehicular traffic, compounded in winter by stubble burning.Officials estimate that more than 1,000 illegal polluting units are operating in the area. Clusters in Amit Vihar, Krishna Vihar and Ankit Vihar are particularly dense, with many units engaged in metal processing and e-waste recycling. These units typically rely on coal and other low-grade fuels, contributing to toxic smog, heavy particulate matter and sustained air quality decline.“These factories are involved in waste recycling but follow crude, unscientific methods,” an official said. “Most use coal and other cheap fuels to heat furnaces, which significantly worsens air pollution.”
