5,792 units got consent to operate, 2,998 to establish in past 4 years in Punjab

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 1

Ever since the state government simplified the systems and processes to promote trade and industry, an average of 1,448 new industries began their operations and 750 began establishing their base in Punjab every year during the last four years, the officials have said.

In this way, a whopping 5,792 industries have been accorded consent to operate (CTO) and 2,998 units got consent to establish (CTE) in the border state since 2017, the government has confirmed.

Sharing details, Rajat Agarwal, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Invest, Punjab, the state government’s one-stop unified regulator controlling 23 different departments to provide advanced single window facilitation to the investors, told The Tribune on Monday that the simplified process has made the system transparent with the issuing authorities made accountable and responsive to issue no objection certificates (NOCs) to the new and expansion projects in a hassle-free manner.

The official data of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), which issues CTOs and CTEs, available with The Tribune suggested that the highest-ever number of 1,704 industrial units procured CTOs in 2020-21, despite the fact that the Covid pandemic had proved a major dampener for the trade and industry during the most part of the previous fiscal, while 1,242 were issued the same in 2019-20, 1,351 in 2018-19 and 1,495 in 2017-18.

Similarly, as many as 557 industrialists were issued CTEs in 2020-21, 786 in 2019-20, 892 in 2018-19 and 763 in 2017-18.

While all the industries were granted consent to operate for a period of five years, except in the case of industries falling in the green category, where the consent was valid for a period of 10 years, the consent to establish was issued to all the industries, except the units covered under EIA notification of September 2006, for a period of one year and up to maximum period of five years, as required or opted by the industry concerned.

For getting the CTOs and CTEs, the industrialist has to register on the online portal of the PPCB for the first time and subsequently has to log into the system to apply for the consents.

CM Charanjit Singh Channi said “The simplification of the process involved in granting various consents and NOCs has enabled the accountable, responsive and transparent system to facilitate the industrialists in their day-to-day affairs, besides cutting the red tape involved in the delivery of service.”