Biz body holds talks with officials, seasonal onion dehydration units in Mahuva permitted
The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) met the state government officials in a crucial bid to lift the moratorium on the granting of new environmental clearance permissions in major districts of the state like Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot, Junagadh and Vadodara.
A five-member delegation led by senior vice president of GCCI Samir Patel, Chairman of real estate committee, Vijay Shah and Shailesh Patwari, met industries minister Saurabh Patel, forest and environment minister Mangubhai Patel, Kiritsinh Rana, secretary SK Nanda and Industries secretary Maheshwar Sahu on Tuesday. “The meeting was positive with officials in agreement that the blanked moratorium on districts should be removed and limited to clusters. In fact, permission for a seasonal industry of onion dehydration units in Mahuva was granted immediately,” Shah said.
GCCI called an urgent meeting on February 23 to discuss the issue. An expert committee comprising of retired IAS officials, domain experts and technocrats was formed to advise on pollution mitigation measures. Moreover, a comprehensive memorandum will be sent to Union ministry of environment and forest to remove the blanket freeze on new industries.
The freeze has rattled the industry in Gujarat severely. A loss of crore is estimated because of this freeze, even though it is to be revised in eight months — August this year. Because of the blanket ban on entire districts, the construction industry is also likely to be affected as it also requires environment clearance.
On its part, the government has conveyed these concerns to the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), and is expecting to remove the blanket suspension on new permissions from entire cities and districts to specific industrial clusters.
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