Cement manufacturing units face closure: BBIA

Tribune News Service

Jammu, February 15

The Bari Brahmana Industrial Association (BBIA) yesterday said that the cement tiles and cement manufacturing units of Jammu and Kashmir were on the verge of closure.

After the abolition of the toll on goods at Lakhanpur, the gateway to Jammu and Kashmir, the cement industry had been feeling the threat of bigger competition from manufacturers in other parts of the state.

The BBIA held a meeting under the chairmanship of Lalit Mahajan to discuss the issue in respect of the ban imposed on the extraction of limestone, sand and bajri by the Geology and Mining Department due to which the industrial units engaged in the manufacturing of cement tiles and other related products were facing an acute problem.

The BBIA urged the Lieut-Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Girish Chandra Murmu, to intervene in the matter and issue necessary directions to the Geology and Mining Department to provide at least six-month period to the owners of limestone mines and stone-crusher units for obtaining the necessary permission from the authorities concerned which will provide big relief to industrial units and the public also.