Chandigarh, Sept. 4 -- The stone crushers in Haryana can now inch closer to people's doorsteps with the Nayab Singh Saini government issuing a fresh notification that reduces the mandatory distance from highways, towns, municipal corporations and villages, rolling back the stricter curbs imposed nine years ago.

The September 2 notification issued by the environment, forest and wildlife department of Haryana under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, supersedes May 11, 2016 notification. It lays down new "siting criteria norms", emission standards, and mandatory pollution control measures for all stone crushers "to maintain ecological balance" in the state to "prevent environm...