Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Nov 30: In a major initiative to address the issues of Industrial sector and streamlining various provisions in ease of doing business in Jammu and Kashmir, a top level joint meeting of the Ministry of Industries and Commerce, Ministry of Power and Ministry of Forest is being convened tomorrow.
To be chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who holds the portfolio of Power in State Government, the meeting shall be attended by the Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Parkash Ganga, Minister for Forest and Social Welfare, Bali Bhagat, Principal Secretary Forest Department, Commissioner Secretary PDD, Commissioner Secretary Industries and Commerce, Chairman State Pollution Control Board and others.
Issues of Power Development Department and Forest Department/Pollution Control Board, concerned with Industry and Commerce Department, will be taken up in the meeting for discussion and approval on the same for ease of doing business in J&K, official sources informed the Excelsior.
Time bound issuance of Power Availability Certificate (PAC), immediate sanction of power connection to new industries, making additional power available to the existing units for their expansion, extending amnesty scheme related to electricity consumers to Industry sector, time bound NOC of Pollution Control Board at the time of consent for production and streamlining PCB procedure to make it investment friendly are among the major issues to be taken up in the meeting for positive consideration, the sources elaborated
The meeting is likely to take a formal decision on Pollution Control Board NOC at the time of initial application to go away with , sources said.
The scheduled meeting assumes significance as this is for the first time in the Mufti-Sayeed led PDP-BJP coalition Government that a top level joint meeting is being held to resolve the issues related to Industry, which is mostly based in Jammu region.
According to the sources, action points from Ministry of Small Scale and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, for Power Development Department and Forest Department are also on agenda for discussion in the meeting.
The action points vis-à-vis PDD, include creation of online common application form for obtaining infrastructure related utilities, streamlining and developing the application and approval to eliminate duplication of formalities, fixing date of inspection for providing electricity connection within seven days of application, fixed cost estimate based on load required with no processing charges, time for all permission of obtaining electricity connection to be capped at 15 days from date of application, allowing third party inspection for internal installation, furnishing final report within 72 hours after inspection to the business etc.
Similarly, the action points from Ministry of MSME, GoI, for Forest Department, include; categorizing Industry into Green, Amber and Red to define inspection required for registration clearance, no requirement for environment clearance in case of Green industries, Amber-self certification/third party certification with defined penalties and Red-compulsory and time bound inspection.
It also includes developing and implementing electronic consent management system for all environment/pollution related approval, developing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for approval and inspection process related to Consent of Operate (CTO), developing legislations to include environment protection and responsibility as mandatory part of Corporate Social Responsibility, furnishing final report within 12 hours after inspection to the business, etc.
There are total 17 action points for PDD and 20 for the Forest Department for ease of doing business and implementation of the same is understood to help J&K Industry sector in a big way, sources said.
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