Assam for non-polluting units, no to coke-based industries

Two days ahead of first ever global investors summit in Assam, the state government today said it is open for only non-polluting industries and has decided not to allow any coke-based units, irrespective of the investment.
"The Assam government has been championing for long, the need of a rapid industrialisation in the state. However, it has been firm on not being proponent to pollution creating industries," state Commerce and Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said at a press conference here.
The government is open for only non-polluting industries to create a pollution-free Assam, he added.
"In this regard, let me inform you all that we are not for the coke industry. It is very polluting. Even if we get Rs 10,000 crore or Rs one lakh crore investment, we will not allow," Patowary said.

The Assam government will also request the Centre to put the coke-based industries on negative to discourage setting up of such units in any part of the country, he added.
Coke is a fuel with impurities and a high carbon content and is a solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash and low-sulphur bituminous coal.

Talking about the 'Advantage Assam - Global Investors Summit 2018', the Minister informed that top corporate honchos - Ratan Tata, Mukesh Ambani, Dilip Sanghvi and Anand Burman, physician Naresh Trehan and filmmaker Subhash Ghai will participate in the summit.
In the first ever global investors summit in Assam, a bilateral discussion between India and Bhutan will also take place for the first time, he added.

The summit, being organised on February 3-4, will also see participation of business leaders and ministers from as many as 20 countries such as the ASEAN, the US, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, UAE and Israel.
A total of 14 international and domestic roadshows were organised as a part of the pre-summit preparations, while high powered delegation of the state government, many of which were led by the Chief Minister, engaged in more than 200 one-on-one meetings with corporate houses.
The government has identified 12 focus sectors for the summit, including agriculture and food processing, handloom- textile-handicrafts, logistics, river transport-port township, IT-ITeS, pharmaceutical-medical equipment, plastics- petrochemicals and power.

Tourism-hospitality-wellness, civil aviation, petroleum-natural gas and startups-innovation are the other focus areas for the business tycoons.