The Hindu Business Line : Do not insist on environmental impact clearance, pleads Codissia

The Coimbatore District Small Industries Association (Codissia) has asked the Central Government not to insist on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance for SSIs.

It also wants foundries and similar industries be exempted from EIA for investment less than Rs 50 crore.

In a resolution adopted at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), Codissia said that foundries must be removed from the list of red category industries.

The association said that the Tamil Nadu Government has listed 14 types of industries that should not be set up within five km from any water body.

It said that industries like foundries did not have any liquid discharge and were not a threat to water bodies.

These units also complied with pollution control norms.

Codissia wanted the work on the zoning map to establish different types of industries in Coimbatore district to be speeded up so that site selection for new industries could be easily made.

It said that apart from the cost of power that was high in Tamil Nadu, poor quality of power was a major problem for the industries.

Industries that had captive power generation capacity to meet shortage in availability were also subjected to electricity tax that only pushed up the generation cost. It pleaded for reconsideration of this levy.

The low tension (LT) limit also should be increased from 150 HP to 250 HP.

Since the SSI sector played a vital role in the economy of the country, it wanted that the reservation for the manufacture of certain products by the SSIs should be continued for another five years without any modification.

The association also urged that VAT should be implemented in the State with immediate effect to prevent any flight of business to neighbouring States.

The following were elected Codissia office-bearers for 2006-08 at the AGM: Mr K. Balachandran; President; Mr C. Muthusami and Mr S. Kasthuriswamy; Vice-Presidents; Mr R. Ramachandran Hon. Secretary; Mr K. Kannan, Hon. Joint Secretary; and Mr K. Viswanathan, Hon. Treasurer.

More Stories on : SSI | Bearings | tings & Forgings | Environment | Tamil Nadu

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