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Punjab chief minister announces closure of Zira liquor factory amid pollution protests
The unit was established as a distillery in 2006 while in 2014 it was redeveloped as an ethanol unit. The factory employs around 750-800 employees
Giving in to the six-month-long protest by farmers and area residents against groundwater pollution, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday announced the closure of the private distillery at Zira in Ferozepur district. The protest against the Malbros International Private Limited, an alcohol-making unit in Mansurwal village of Zira in Ferozepur, started on July 24 and completed 177 days on Tuesday.
The unit was established as a distillery in 2006 while in 2014 it was redeveloped as an ethanol unit. The factory employs around 750-800 employees.
This is the second project to be closed by the AAP government in Punjab. Earlier, it had scrapped the proposed textile park project at Koom Kalan village near the Mattewara forest in Ludhiana district over pollution allegations.
Making the announcement on Twitter, the chief minister wrote in Punjabi that no one would be allowed to pollute the environment of Punjab and so he was ordering the closure of the liquor factory at Zira. He added that the decision had been taken after consulting legal experts.
In a video message announcing the distillery’s closure, Mann said, “For purity of Punjab’s water, air and its land, and keeping in view the interests of the people, after consulting legal experts, I announce that orders have been issued to shut down the liquor factory in Zira with immediate effect. In future, too, if anyone takes the law into one’s hands, be it concerning pollution norms, laws related to mining or the Transport department, any law framed by the government, if anyone violates that deliberately or for any vested interests or for economic gain causes harm, no matter how big (powerful) that person may be, will not be spared.”
Welcoming the decision, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, the general secretary of a faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said it was “better late than never”.
Two audits since July did not report any adverse finding
Two audits conducted since July last year by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and National Green Tribunal (NGT) did not find evidence of environmental degradation by the distillery.
Fresh samples of water, soil, livestock and crop were taken by teams formed by the state government early this month from around the distillery and laboratory to determine pollution. The reports are expected next week. Officials said they are yet to receive reports of the recent samples taken by the experts.
Earlier, following a complaint filed on July 18, 2022, about the alleged groundwater contamination by the factory at Mahian Wala Kalan, PPCB took tubewell water samples from 11 sites, including three from the premises of the distillery.
In a report submitted before the NGT, the board stated that ‘there is no indication of discharge of wastewater (in all 11 samples) by the industry in the underground water’ and ‘that there is no chemical pollution in the groundwater.’
‘All the samples collected were found to be colourless and odourless’ and ‘water quality was as per IS 10500:2012 drinking water standards,’ the PPCB report stated.
The state monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) led by its chairperson justice Jasbir Singh (retd) visited the protest site on August 18, 2022, and samples were taken from seven sites, including the factory compound.
Water samples were sent to three reputed laboratories in Patiala, SAS Nagar and New Delhi. The report says ‘analysis results of groundwater samples analysed by all the three laboratories, indicate that groundwater contamination is probably due to faecal matter, which may be due to domestic sources. Possibility of discharge of industrial effluent in underground water is feeble as no such assessment from the analysis results has been found.’
Chief agriculture officer, Ferozepur, also mentioned in his report dated September 14, 2022, that the quality of soil and yield of crops in the adjoining area of the industry was not being affected due to any discharge from the industry.
Persistent protest, HC levies fine
On July 29, the firm moved Punjab and Haryana high court seeking the removal of protesters and resumption of normal factory work at the plant.
As the government failed to resolve the impasse on October 11, 2022, the court directed the government to deposit ₹5 crore with the registry. On that day, the firm had claimed that it had suffered losses to the tune of ₹13 crore till then. The firm had also told the court that it had set up the unit with an investment of more than ₹300 crore of which the capital investment of ₹200 crore was raised from financial institutions entailing a monetary liability of more than ₹2 crore per month towards the instalments. In addition, ₹1.5 crore have to be borne as recurring salary bills per month.
On November 22, 2022, after the government still failed to remove the protesters, the court asked the government to deposit ₹15 crore more with the high court registry. The court also issued contempt notices to the additional chief secretary (home), additional director general of police (law and order), the deputy commissioner, Ferozepur, and the senior superintendent of police, Ferozepur. Details of protesters, their leaders and their properties were sought. The court also constituted a committee headed by Justice RK Nehru (retd) for assessing and evaluating the losses incurred by the firm and other aspects.
On December 23 hearing the state told the court it has constituted four committees to examine various aspects with regard to issues raised by protesters sitting on a dharna and to amicably resolve the issue. Upon this, the court deferred the hearing for February 28.
Legal recourse only after govt order, says counsel
Senior advocate Puneet Bali, who appeared for the firm, said, they are yet to get an order on closure from the government. “Legal recourse options can only be discussed and shared only when the government order is made available. It appears the principle of natural justice has not been followed by the government as the firm was not given show cause notice for the same,” Bali told media in Chandigarh.
