Ludhiana, July 27 (KNN) The furnace mill owners in Ludhiana are feeling uneasy due to the recent alteration in the requirements for obtaining and renewing environmental clearances.

According to the new conditions, they are now required to augment the green belt cover in their factory premises to 40 per cent of the total land area.

As per reports, the industry will soon meet Invest Punjab CEO K K Yadav to urge the state government to take up this issue with the Centre as well as the authorities concerned.

President of a national level furnace association, K K Garg, said, “Recently, we have come to know about the new orders imposed on us regarding environmental clearances certificate requirements. Under the new norms, every furnace or rolling mill is required to earmark 40 per cent of the unit area for greenbelt development.”

“While we are not against environmental conservation, this condition is impossible to be fulfilled as how can the existing furnace factories, most of which were setup decades ago can all of sudden make arrangements for sparing such a huge percentage of land for green belt,” he said.

Garg said it was impossible for all units to comply as it would be very expensive to buy additional land just for development of green belt.

“This is a grave concern. In the coming days, it will start affecting our industry as we won’t be allowed to operate our units sans compliance. We have arranged a meeting of different associations representing the furnace industry in New Delhi, during which we will finalise our strategy to deal with the same,” he added.

Inderjit Singh Khurana, president of an association representing steel re-rollers, said, “Many furnaces and rolling mills across the country have received communication regarding the new norms. The new condition is totally unjustified as all furnace and rolling mills of Punjab are located in Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh where there is no alternative other than buying land to comply with the new norms.”   (KNN Bureau)