By IANS
Jaipur : The union government has assured Rajasthan that it would review its decision on raising the quota of marble block imports, officials said Tuesday.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath made the assurance during a meeting with Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in New Delhi Monday. Raje had told him that the decision to increase marble imports would severely affect the state’s marble industry.
“Kamal Nath assured the chief minister that the union government would genuinely look into reducing the marble blocks import quota, keeping Rajsthan’s interest in mind,” officials said.
Representatives of the marble industry had recently met Raje to inform her about the adverse impact of increasing marble imports on local businesses. Traders had also written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in this regard.
A policy circular issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on July 26 had sought to increase the quantity of licence for import of marble blocks from the present 130,000 MT to 195,000 MT.
Marble traders said the move would cripple the Indian marble industry and affect over 200,000 families in Rajasthan and thousands of others directly engaged or dependent on this industry.
Marble is the prime stone mineral of Rajasthan, which has 91 percent of India’s total resources and contributes 95 percent of India’s marble production.