Chandigarh, Jul 24 (IANS): The Punjab government has announced a slew of relaxations for industry, including extension of validity of statutory clearances without inspection, officials said on Friday.

The move is aimed at further easing the process of obtaining statutory clearances in these difficult circumstances amid coronavirus, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said.

He said the relaxations would help instill confidence among investors and encourage them to invest in the state during the pandemic in a hassle-free manner.

An official statement quoting Punjab Pollution Control Board Chairman S.S. Marwaha said the board had extended the validity of consent to establish and operate, authorisation, registration and any other mandatory regulatory clearances up to June 30 in view of the pandemic.

The validity of the clearances has been further extended up to March 31, 2021, with certain stipulations on submission of application without conduct of any inspection by the board, he said.

In order to ensure the participatory regulatory compliance of the environmental regulations, the industries that were operating without the consent of the board have been given time up to December 31 to apply for obtaining clearances under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme.

Principal Secretary (Science, Technology and Environment) Alok Shekhar said these initiatives would assist the industry in completing their regulatory compliances and would enhance the regulatory regime by the small-scale industries.