Sept 20th

September 20 - Giving major relief to sawmills located in
Haryana, the state Forests Department has decided to make fresh
assessment of timber available and required in the State.
The Haryana Minister of State for Forests, Mrs. Kiran Choudhry
informed that the license to wood based units would be granted on the basis of assessment made by the Department. She said that as per the judgement of the Supreme Court, 1424 wood based industries established after October 30, 2002 had been closed in the State out of which 1100 were saw mills. She further stated that most of these saw mills were located in the remote rural areas of the State and a number of these were being carried out as family businesses.
Mrs. Choudhry said that many of such mills did not possess any
document to give the evidence of the date of their establishment. On
the request of the State Government, the Central Empowered Committee
formed by Supreme Court took a lenient view with regard to the grant
of license. It was also granted that for units located in rural areas, the State Committee could grant license to such units if it was convinced about the genuineness of the case. This step would go a long way in giving major relief to saw mills located in rural areas of Haryana, added the minister.