No industrial unit near Mattewara forest: Punjab CM

Chandigarh, July 11 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann announced on Monday that no industrial unit will be set up at the proposed site near the Mattewara forest in Ludhiana for saving water resources and woods of the state.

"I would like to categorically announce that not only in Mattewara, but the government will not allow any industry to come up on the river banks of Punjab for avoiding any sort of water pollution in them," the Chief Minister said after a meeting with the Public Action Committee on Mattewara forest.

Mann said that former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh gave nod to the project envisaged by the Union government for setting up a textile park over 1,000 acres on this land, without even thinking about its pros and cons.

He said the proposed project site is located near the Mattewara forest and on the floodplains of the Satluj river, but the Amarinder Singh-led government totally ignored the castigating effects which this project will have on the environment and ecology of the state.

Mann said that apart from cutting of trees, this project would have also led to massive pollution in the river, jeopardising the human life along with flora and fauna in the region.

The Chief Minister said that after coming to power, his government minutely studied the project and found that it will disturb the ecological balance of the area.

He said keeping in view the repercussions of this project on the environment and human life, the state government has decided that no industrial unit will be set up in this land.

Rather, Mann said that the state government will preserve these �green arteries' of the state by all means.

The Chief Minister said the state is ready to allot any new chunk of land for this proposed textile park with the condition that it doesn't pollute the waters of the state.

Mann reiterated the firm commitment of the state government to check environmental pollution for making Punjab clean, green and pollution-free.