Latest News | Punjab Pollution Control Board Refuses Clearance to Ethanol Plant in Zira

Ferozepur, Jul 6 (PTI) The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has "refused its consent to operate" for an ethanol plant at village Mansurwala in Zira here.

In the month of January, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann ordered the immediate closure of the plant after a month-long agitation against the unit by villagers.

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It has been more than a year now, the board has not given clearance to the plant to operate following which its management approached Punjab and Haryana High Court which directed the PPCB to consider their plea afresh and issue a speaking order.

In its latest order issued on Tuesday, the PPCB stated that in its earlier observations coupled with the inferences drawn in the water and sludge chemical report by the expert committees, it does not make a case in favour of the industry for operation of the unit.

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"The examination of the case reveals that the industry was still lacking in compliance on at least six consent conditions which are very important in nature and cannot be ignored in a causal manner", the orders stated, further saying that these conditions have been consciously imposed by the Board to regulate the operation of the large-scale red-category units.

The order also stated that the board's observations in reference to the compliance report were sufficient to decline the consent-to-operate the application of Malbros International Private Limited.

“Hence, the application of the industry for obtaining the consent to operate under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, is hereby refused,” stated the order.

"Excessive accumulation of heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury in underground water could disturb the balance of the environment.

"The accumulation of the heavy metals in underground water could logically be attributed to the liquor factory in view of the reports of the expert committee and in the absence of any other realistic reason", read the order.

Earlier, the Central Pollution Control Board in its report submitted to National Green Tribunal had also found that none of the 29 samples taken by its team from the area in and around the ethanol plant were “potable”.

Out of these 29 borewells, 12 were found yielding water with unpleasant odour, whereas another 5 borewells had blackish water.

Notably, on April 4, a three-member fact finding team constituted by the state government to ascertain the quality of groundwater in and around the plant, had submitted its report in which it had found the presence of various toxic substances and certain other harmful chemicals in the samples collected by the team in January this year.

In its report, the CPCB also directed the PPCB to consider the violations and take necessary remedial measures for the decontamination of the affected sites.

The CPCB had also told PPCB to undertake detailed environmental site assessment by engaging a professional agency having expertise in assessment and remediation of contaminated groundwater and soil.

Besides, the PPCB was told to ensure that the plant administration should submit a detailed project report (DPR) for remediation of groundwater in contaminated areas.

The CPCB had also asked the PPCB to impose environmental compensation (EC) or initiate legal action for causing injury to the surrounding environment and contamination of groundwater.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)