Industrial park at Mattewara Forest: PAC members raise concerns over sustainability of proposed site

Additional secretary of the Union ministry of textiles, Vijoy Kumar Singh, on Friday visited the proposed site for the industrial park at Mattewara Forest to assess its sustainability where members of the Public Action Committee submitted a representation to him

Additional secretary of the Union ministry of textiles, Vijoy Kumar Singh, on Friday visited the proposed site for the industrial park at Mattewara Forest to assess its sustainability

The Public Action Committee (PAC) for Sutlej and Mattewara submitted a representation with the additional secretary of the Union ministry of textiles, Vijoy Kumar Singh, to explain reasons for the unsuitability of the location for the industrial purpose.

This industrial park is among 13 similar projects across India which are being assessed, out of which seven will be selected under PM Mitra Scheme for development as mega textile parks.

Also, members of the Public Action Committee (PAC) for Sutlej and Mattewara, Kapil Dev, Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Jaskirat Singh met Singh at the site and submitted a representation to explain reasons for the unsuitability of the location for the industrial purpose. Singh assured them that environmental concerns will be evaluated as part of the selection process.

Ludhiana deputy commissioner also met the PAC members to listen to their concerns and received the representation on behalf of the additional secretary.

Kapil Arora of PAC said, “We will send all relevant documents, including NGT orders, to the ministry so that they can understand the environmental concerns about flood plain, Sutlej river, drinking water, Mattewara forest and bio-diversity in the area which make the site unsustainable for such a mega project.”