Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 6: The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) today said it has sought the government’s intervention for “mitigation of issues of wood-based industrial units” and early issuance of formal orders on matters already discussed with the Forest Department.
In a representation to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Force (HoFF), FCIK welcomed the reconstitution of the State Level Committee (SLC) but said it has “concern regarding the composition of the re-constituted Committee”. While the order provides for inclusion of a representative from the Saw Mill Association, FCIK said its recognition “ought to have emanated, in the first instance, from your esteemed Department”.
The Federation said it has, “from time immemorial, played a pivotal institutional role in addressing regulatory, legal and policy-related challenges faced by the wood-based industry in Jammu and Kashmir”. It recalled that its former president was a member of a six-member committee constituted in 2009-10 to engage with the Supreme Court and the Central Empowered Committee in the T.N. Godavarman forest case.
Seeking a larger role, FCIK requested that it be “duly recognized by recommending FCIK as a permanent member of the State Level Committee”.
FCIK also asked for exemption from the “requirement of a forest license” for units using agro-forestry timber and other eligible wood products procured from legitimate sources. It said that although furniture units have been placed under a one-time registration regime, the same yardstick has not been applied to manufacturers of wooden fruit boxes, plywood and veneer units, cricket bat manufacturers, and furniture and joinery units.
The Federation further urged the Government to identify and approve pending clusters as industrial estates, delink Pollution Control Committee consents from issuance and renewal of forest licences, and align Jammu and Kashmir rules on transfer of forest licences with central guidelines that allow transfer by sale as well as inheritance.
FCIK said early intervention would provide “clarity, stability, and confidence to the wood-based industrial sector in the Union Territory.”
The post FCIK seeks mitigation of issues of wood-based industrial units appeared first on Daily Excelsior.