Capt Amarinder Singh: Decision of scrapping Mattewara textile project regressive & short-sighted

Chandigarh, July 11

Ex-Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today rued the scrapping of the Mattewara textile project, terming it as the most regressive and short-sighted decision. “You don’t throw away the baby with the bath water,” he said in a statement while reacting to the government decision.

Questioning the diatribe launched against the project, the ex-CM clarified that the textile park was not to come up within the Mattewara forest area as was being said, but outside it. He disclosed that all environmental concerns had been addressed according to the United Nations guidelines and only then the park was approved.

Captain Amarinder regretted that the AAP government after initially deciding to go ahead with the project had scrapped it just because some people opposed it without any justification or any technical and scientific knowledge about the environment.

He said the Ludhiana textile park was one of the seven such parks coming up across the country.

“With such an approach no industrialisation can take place in Punjab, which is already scarce of land. When Punjab is reeling under such a financial crisis and investments are not coming, such a regressive decision will further discourage the industry from coming here,” he said, adding that such a crucial decision should not have been taken in such haste.

The ex-CM said the NGT had already formed an expert panel to examine the project and objections raised by certain quarters. He said the government should have waited for its decision.