The Consortium of Industry & Trade, representing 14 major industrial and trade associations of Ludhiana, held a protest outside PPCB office on Monday. Huge police were deployed outside the office to avoid any unruly incident.Submitting a memorandum, the industrialists rued that serious issues were being faced by the industrial sector at the hands of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).The representatives from several leading industry organisations alleged harassment and unjustified actions being taken against industrial units by the PPCB.The industrialists alleged that they were denied permission to carry out a peaceful democratic protest despite having genuine grievances.Industrialist Narinder Bhamra demanded immediate transfer of RK Ratra, Chief Environmental Engineer, PPCB, Ludhiana, as there was “growing dissatisfaction and resentment among industrial units” against Ratra as unnecessary notices were served in the industry.The protesting leaders also held discussions with police officials and demanded the withdrawal of recently issued show-cause notices to industrial units, terming them arbitrary, excessive and unjustified.The industry representatives further sought an early meeting with the PPCB Chairman so that their grievances could be presented directly before him.They also strongly opposed the practice of disconnecting electricity connections of industrial units over alleged non-compliance with pollution norms.Additionally, the industry demanded that the calculation of consent fees and related charges should be based solely on the depreciated value of plant and machinery, instead of including undepreciated values and unrelated fixed assets such as furniture, fixtures, vehicles, and other non-productive assets.