Facing penalties, IOCL’s Panipat refinery launches plantation drive

DIFFICULTY LEVEL ★★★

KARNAL: Facing severe criticism and penalties from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) for activities leading to pollution, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL)’s Panipat refinery has launched a plantation drive for environment restoration in nearby villages.

The official spokesperson of the IOCL refinery said that they plan to plant over two lakh saplings on 700 acres near the refinery, under environment sustainability initiative launched in association with the Haryana forest and wildlife department. Officials further claimed that IOCL has planted over 6.5 lakh trees in the area since the refinery was set up in 1998. “Now, the target is to plant over 2.02 lakh trees with ₹7.18 crore in the next few months,” the officials added.

In 2018, the NGT had formed a joint committee to look into the complaints from residents of six nearby villages who had alleged that activities in the refinery were leading to severe air and water pollution, which was impacting their health.

The committee had found that the issues raised by the residents were true to some extent. In May 2019, on the recommendations of the first assessment report of the joint committee, the NGT had directed the oil company to deposit ₹ 17.31 crore to the Central Pollution Control Board. Then again in July 2020, the Tribunal directed IOCL officials to deposit a sum of₹ 25 crore as interim compensation for restoration of environment.

SRINAGAR : A day after two policemen were gunned down in Baghaat Barzulla, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti visited Logripora, Aishmuqam, in south Kashmir to express her condolences to the family of constable Suhail Ahmad who was killed in the attack.

The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister urged the government of India to initiate dialogue with Pakistan to end the blood shed in Kashmir.

“Since the BJP government is blaming Pakistan for every attack, they should initiate dialogue with them. This is important in order to end the bloodshed as Kashmir is filled with graveyards. This is a big issue and should be resolved for peace,” she said.

Two unarmed police personnel were gunned down in Barzulla area of Srinagar on Friday afternoon. The gunman fled after shooting at the two cops — selection grade constable Mohammad Yousuf of Zurhama, Kupwara, and constable Suhail Ahmad of Logripora, Aishmuqam.

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