The apex body of trade and industry in the state is feeling the heat as an estimated 152 industrial units will have to bear losses of around Rs1,058 crore.
The central government's recent decision to put a moratorium on giving environmental clearance for expansion and green field projects in eight industrial areas in Gujarat has choked Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry's (GCCI) business plans.
The apex body of trade and industry in the state is feeling the heat as an estimated 152 industrial units will have to bear losses of around Rs1,058 crore, not to mention the fact that business for many more will be stunted. Besides several other units who have taken bank loans will fall in the bank's non-performing assets (NPA) list, thereby damaging their credit history.
That the GCCI is feeling that the industry will be at the receiving end of the Centre's decision taken as a result of political vindication comes to the forefront when vanguards of the apex body, Shailesh Patwari, chairman of environment/pollution committee of GCCI, says: "The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has used four-year-old data of pollution levels to declare eight cities including Ahmedabad and Vadodara as critically polluted areas."
He said that the central government wants to chock up the industrial growth of Gujarat with this step. "The MoUs signed in Vibrant Gujarat summit in 2009 worth around Rs7 lakh crore will be stunted because of non-availability environmental clearance. We suspect in the 2011 summit, multi-national companies will be vary of investing in the state, which has been termed 'critically polluted'," said Patwari.
The GCCI fails to understand the reason why the central government has put the eight areas under critically polluted category as the state has highest number of common effluent treatment plant, landfill sites and incinerator units. Moreover, the CPCB has only issued circular instead of issuing notification and giving a chance to industry to represent their case, said Patwari, adding that as per section 5 (2) of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, the CPCB should have issued notification to declare these cities as critically polluted areas till August 2010. The CPCB has not collected any samples from the industrial areas that have been declared as critically polluted areas, he said.
Patwari further stated that Gujarat is the only state that is conducting environment audit every year as per the guideline of the High Court of Gujarat. "The industry and state government has invested around Rs5,000 crore for setting up CETPs and effluent channel," he said.
Taking the clue from the CPCB's circular, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) put on hold expansion and green field projects in the said areas. Majority of the industrial units have taken finance from the banks and around 70% investment has already been done. "The industrialists would default as they would not be able to start production and meet their commitments," he said.
Patwari said that all the chambers of commerce and industry in the state have been asked to sensitise member of parliaments of their area over the issue and represent the case to the central government during the budget session.
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