Sanjha Morcha Zira take out ‘Chetavani rally’ on Day 251 of dharna

The SMZ has been protesting outside Malbros international private limited, a liquor unit located in Mansurwal Kalan village of Zira constituency in Ferozepur district of Punjab.

In Friday’s Chetavni rally leaders of 32 farmer unions of Punjab, including BKU Ugrahan took part. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, president of BKU Ugrahan while addressing the gathering, said, “We are demanding our right to a clean environment but the government is trying to repress us. This shows the governmet’s inclination towards the corporates. It was only due to public pressure that the CM announced to close the unit.”

Brar added that government reports have shown presence of heavy metals in the soil, but still the government is not taking a stern action.

In the first week of July 2022, a bore was dug till a depth of 670 feet in Miayyanwala Kalan village near Mansurwal Kalan and it was found that water was mixed with liquor waste. Villagers linked it to the liquor factory located in the next village and approached the authorities to get the matter checked. When no action was taken, the villagers started the protest from July 24 and termed it the ‘Sanjha Morcha Zira.’ The dharna is still going on even though the strength of the protesters on routine days have reduced.

Fateh Singh, a committee member of SMZ, said, “We haven’t got anything in writing so far and there is no notification on this matter till date. We will not lift the dharna and we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”

The liquor factory which became operational in 2007 during the Akali rule had only expanded over the years. Former Akali Dal MLA Deep Malhotra is the MD of the unit and his son Gautam Malhotra is involved in a case of Delhi excise policy. Gautam was even arrested by ED on February 8, 2023 in the Delhi excise policy case.

Zira DSP Palwinder Singh said that the unit has two gates. “While the gate number 2 is open for the use of security guards of the company, the unit has been non-operational since July 24. There are around 40-45 security men who guard the machinery and sometimes even shift some equipment from one place to another. We even got their ethanol stock shifted from the but even then protesters are continuing the dharna outside gate number 1,” he said.

“We will continue to protest in a peaceful manner till the time reports of various committees are not made public and even till the factory closure is notified,” said Dr Gurcharan Singh Noorpur, an Ayurvedic doctor and an activist who has been part of the morcha since July last year.