The state will for the first time study the impact of cement factories on the dwindling saffron production in Pampore, Balhama and Wuyan villages in the Valley and its impact on the environment to formulate a policy to give approval to new factories in the future. There are 37 cement manufacturing factories in the state which were established before 2006 as the state issued a notification making environment impact assessment mandatory. The Environment Pollution Assessment Committee will carry out a detailed study of all the cement factories in the state to assess environmental pollution caused by them. The report will be submitted to the government by December end. Officials said many environmentalists and NGOs blamed the dust and soot generated by the cement factories at Khrew, a famous saffron production area in Kashmir, for the declining saffron production and fungal attack on the flower. The production of the labour-intensive crop used to be around 40 tons a year in early 1990s which has nosedived to eight tons. “Minute dust particles emitted by quarries and cement factories settle on fields damaging the flowers. Illegal construction despite ban by the government is destroying the fields in Pampore, Balhama and Wuyan which produce 70 per cent of the total saffron,” said Nadeem Qadri, an environment activist from Pampore. There are two varieties of saffron, ‘lacha’ and ‘mongra’ which were once a symbol of Kashmir’s idyllic Himalayan ecology. Saffron is used mainly in drug and food industry and religious rituals of Hindus across the globe. Commissioner Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Shant Manu, who is the chairman of the committee, said, “It will be the first of its kind study on the impact of the cement industry on land, air and water resources and will include the impact on saffron fields. Environmental scientists from the University of Jammu and the University of Kashmir will also be a part of the committee.” Manu said the report would be incorporated in the new policy being formulated for giving clearance to new cement industries. The land under saffron cultivation has shrunk from 5,707 hectares in 1997 to 3,010 hectares as the cement industry is transforming the area rapidly. Chairman of the Pollution Control Board (PCB) Lal Chand said they were asking the factories to install pollution control devices. “People living around these industries have been complaining of respiratory diseases and overall impact on health.”