Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday ordered the immediate closure of a liquor distillery and ethanol plant in Ferozepur’s Zira after a nearly seven-month long agitation by locals and farmers who alleged that the unit was polluting groundwater in several villages and causing air pollution.
“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,” Mann said in a video message on Twitter.
“In future, too, if anyone takes 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,” he added.
On the liquor unit, he said keeping in view its castigating effects on the environment and ecology of the state, it has been shelved.
Though a reaction from the distillery owners was not immediate available, its counsel Puneet Bali said the company had not received any closure order.
“We will see what legal options we can seek. We will have to look at the legal options after looking at what actually has happened,” Bali said.
Local villagers, under the banner of Sanjha Zira Morcha, had launched an indefinite dharna in front of the plant on July 24 last year. They had been demanding complete shut down of the unit, owned a former Shiromani Akali Dal legislator. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha too had expressed solidarity with the agitating villagers.
Although delayed, the decision is seen as a major step by the Punjab government and comes weeks after the Punjab Police arrested 46 people for protesting outside the factory.
Punjab and Haryana High Court had earlier imposed a fine of Rs 20 crore on the state government for failing to get lift ‘dharna’ after the plant owner moved court. It also formed a three-member committee to ascertain the financial losses suffered by the plant because of the protest.
The committee, led by Justice RK Nehru (Retd), met the protesters and factory owners on Tuesday.
The protesters said they were happy with the announcement. “We had started this protest in July… we were determined for the closure of this plant, which was contaminating groundwater due to which the residents belonging to this area were falling ill and our cattle were dying. During this tough journey we lost a few of our people but finally we won,” said Jagtar Singh, a protesting villager.
Recently, the government had set up four different committees to assess the impact due to the liquor unit on health of humans, soil, animal husbandry and the environment. The government action came after the committees collected samples and sent them to different labs for testing. The test reports are yet awaited but government went ahead with its decision to shut down the distillery.
Also, it has been reliably learnt that officials of various departments, including the Chief Minister’s Office, were not kept in the loop about the Mann’s decision. Most of the officials learnt about it when the CM was recording the video about the announcement, minute before it was uploaded online.
After making the announcement, Mann left for Telangana.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua called a meeting of officials of Punjab Pollution Control Board, Excise and Taxation Department, Science and Technology Department, and Department of Law and Lustice and discussed the issue.
While no official of the government is willing to come on record on the issue, a few, on condition of anonymity, said that government had sent a strong message that it would not tolerate any violator who would spoil the environment.
“People were suffering. Look at the photos of the bottles of water the protesters were displaying at the dharna site. The government has to come to the rescue,” an official said.
However, there are others who said that the decision appeared hasty. “It is a very negative message to the industry, especially ahead of Punjab Investment Summit. Where is the principle of natural justice? No notice was issued to the factory as the test reports were not yet in. At most, the pollution control board could have sealed the factory for the time being and asked the violator to adhere to the rules. What will happen to scores of labourers who were working in the factory? Where will they find work in this cold?” asked an official.
Another official said, “If the factory owner moves the court, I do not think the government would have anything to defend its decision with. If we shut one factory, what are we going do about Ludhiana? Look at the Buddha Nullah. Where is the effluent in that water body coming from? Is Buddha Nullah not causing problems for the humanity? Are we going to shut all units that are polluting?” the official asked.
Shutting down of the liquor factory is the second such decision by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab. A few months ago, Mann had earlier scrapped the proposed textile park at Mattewara following protests. The Centre had agreed to allot the project to the state government earlier but the CM scrapped it amid concerns over damage to environment and forests in the neighbourhood. —WITH PTI
Those in power decorated their own palaces at the cost of the city, Mann alleged after reviewing development projects worth Rs 167 crore.
(Express Photo/File) 
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