Members of Jalandhar Chamber of Industries & Commerce held a meeting with Mr Vijay Sampla, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Govt of India on the matter of Central Groundwater new rules. Mr Naresh Tiwari, Chairman, AIPMA also accompanied with delegation. Representing on behalf of MSME they put several matters before the minister such as to exempt the Industrial Units extracting water maximum 50 KLD from obtaining NOC and to extend the date of filing NOC application up to March 31, 2020. For the purpose the member of association along with its office bearers submitted a memorandum to the minister.
It is noted that the guidelines has been issued to regulate and control groundwater extraction and the same has been notified recently which overrides the earlier set of rules which were in effect from November 2015. The latest development in the matter include, “Industries shall minimise the use of fresh groundwater through recoiling and reuse of waste water.” While applying for a no-objection certificate (NOC), the industry will have to present a document with detailed measures on how it would ensure the reuse, say the new rules, which would be implemented from June 1, 2019.
The latter submitted to the minister states that the concern department is serving notices to MSME for getting No Objection Certificate (NOC) to use ground water, whereas previously all the industrial unit or projects which were extracting water Max.100 KLD were exempted from NOC. The industry is forced to extract water from the ground because the local bodies are not in a position to provide regular supply of water, which is one of the foremost needs, both for manufacturing purposes as well as for the domestic use of employees working in the industry. The procedural issues pertaining to getting NOC is very complicated and tedious and goes against the objective of the government for ease of doing business. The requirement listed for getting the HOC is very long and will be very difficult to fulfil for MSME.
The members of the industry body in its letter said that they readily support the genuine cause and objective of the NGT and CGWA. And they understand the need to preserve water for future generations. But they just wanted simplification in the procedures and lessen the severity of the penalties. They also requested to understand the gravity of the situation and simplify the process and give adequate time to get NOC. The industry body assured that entire industry will heartily join this cause. They hoped that their representation would be given a favourable consideration and obtain a favourable and sympathetic view on the subject.