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Polluting unit of auto parts plant sealed
Residents of village Sehraul, abutting Industrial Sector 18 have won a long battle against water pollution.
Residents of village Sehraul, abutting Industrial Sector 18 have won a long battle against water pollution.
Officials of Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB) on Thursday evening. finally sealed the electroplating plant of Munjal Showa (a well-known automobile company), charged with discharging untreated water effluents into the ground.
In January 2006, residents started receiving water infected with chrome metal content and reported the matter to HSPCB.
The laboratory report revealed the water had chromium content at 78 mg per litre, which was about 800 times higher than the permissible limit.
The industrial units could discharge chromium content into their treated effluents to the maximum limit of 0.1 mg per litre, HSPCB officials confirmed.
Dr A.S. Chahal, HSPCB chairman told Hindustan Times that the Board had issued a notice to the company under Section-33A of Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 for causing pollution of a serious nature and contaminating the aquifer of the surrounding area including village Serhaul in Haryana with Hexavalent Chromium.
“We gave Munjal Showa enough opportunities for taking remedial action. The company deposited a bank guarantee of Rs 5 crore with the pollution control board and also submitted a Remediation Plan promising to make the water free of chromium,” Chahal said.
“But the latest water test reports confirmed that the company failed to do the needful, forcing us to seal its electroplating plant on Thursday evening.”
R K Arora, General Manager, Munjal Showa said, “We had been treating the water before discharging it.
The chrome content in the groundwater, too, had come down substantially.”
“We have not been given enough time by the Board.”
