Ludhiana chamber assails ban on new units

The Ludhiana-based Chamber of Industrial & Commercial Undertakings (CICU), an association of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), has criticised the decision of the Union environment and forests ministry to impose a ban on setting up new industries in Ludhiana city.

Upkar Singh Ahuja, joint secretary, CICU, said there was no large industry near the city which could help SMEs through bulk purchasing. Also, the Ludhiana Master Plan, which is valid until 2016, allows industries to operate in mixed-land usage. Ludhiana city mainly comprises SMEs - of which there are about 150,000 - but industry has not been able to grow over time, he said.

The decision of the ministry of environment and forests would further suffocate industry in Ludhiana city, he added. He said Gurgaon, which was earlier a small village, had grown into a major industrial hub only after the setting up of factories by Maruti Udyog (now known as Maruti Suzuki India Ltd), Hero Honda Motorcycles (now know as Hero MotoCorp) and their vendors, among other companies, in the 1980s.

The chamber said business in Ludhiana is not against environmental protection, and CICU organised awareness programmes, workshops and rain harvesting seminars from time to time. It added that Ludhiana was once known as the Manchester of India, but could now disappear from the world's industrial map.