Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga today chaired a high level meeting to discuss the issues pertaining to enforcement of environmental laws at Brick Kiln sites and the problems being faced by the owners of these units.Commissioner Secretary Industries and Commerce, Shailendra Kumar, DC Samba, Sheetal Nanda, DC Jammu, Simrandeep Singh, Director I&C Jammu, Director, Geology and Mining, Joint Director, CAPD, Member Secretary, SBCP, Regional Director, SPCB and members of Brick Kiln Owners Association were present in the meeting.The Minister was apprised about the problems and challenges being faced by the members of Brick Kiln Owners Association in Jammu province.The association requested the Minister for considering exemptions and relaxation from certain provisions of the Brick Kiln Act 2010 on account of brick kiln being an important element in construction industry which is working towards achieving the targets of Prime Minister’s “Housing for All by 2022” Mission.Other grievances of BKOA were related to the royalty charges, environmental clearances, pollution control equipment and absence of incentives which are extended to other industry models.Highlighting the steps being taken by the government for good governance the Minister asserted that the facilitation centres are being organised at district level wherein representation of 11 departments is ensured.
“This will greatly simplify the previous cumbersome and time consuming mechanism of seeking permissions directly from the central government”, he added.Ganga reassured BKOA of early redressal of genuine grievances in addition to perpetual support of the government to the businessmen of J&K.Regarding the issue of grant of environmental clearances and renewal of licenses thereof, the Minister said that strict adherence to the standards set by central government is to be maintained in the state while reasonable relaxations in timeline for marching towards set targets can be considered.The Minister further issued directions to the district administrations to immediately make functional the district level facilitation centres to guide the applicants in getting proper registrations, licences and clearances in a time bound manner. He also instructed the officers to sternly punish the violators and offenders as per the rules and regulations in this regard.Later the Minister held a meeting to review progress of works undertaken by SIDCO in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts.Commissioner Secretary Industries and Commerce, Shailendra Kumar, DC Samba, Sheetal Nanda, MD SIDCO, Amit Sharma, Director I&C, Rajendra Singh Tara and other officers were present in the meeting.