PPCB notice to Gurdaspur mill seeks reply by today

ACTION Report by pollution control board underlined violations of norms at mill

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on Wednesday issued a notice to Chadha sugar mill in the incident involving leakage into the Beas, a day after a probe committee in its report submitted to the state government found violations in the storage of molasses at the factory. The board also sought the mill’s reply on why action should not be initiated against it for the alleged violations.

CHANDIGARH: THE Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on Wednesday issued a notice to Chadha sugar mill in the incident involving leakage into the Beas, a day after a probe committee in its report submitted to the state government found violations in the storage of molasses at the factory.

The board also sought the mill’s reply on why action should not be initiated against it for the alleged violations.

A large number of fish were found dead in the Beas in Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts on May 17 after molasses from the sugar factory leaked into the river. The mill had termed the incident as an accident.

Mill representatives have been asked to appear before PPCB authorities on Thursday for giving reply, the official said.

The mill is owned by Jasdeep Kaur Chadha, daughter of former Delhi Gurdwara Sikh Parbandhak Committee chief Harvinder Singh Sarna.

Jasdeep’s late husband Hardeep Singh Chadha was the brother of liquor baron late Ponty Chadha.

“Notice has been issued to the Chadha Sugar mill, Kiri Afgana, in Gurdaspur to seek the reply of its representatives on the findings of the probe committee report which found violations,” a senior official said here.

“There was a violation as the storage arrangements were not found to be as per rules,” the official said.

The committee had a mandate to investigate how and why the incident happened and what were the deficiencies and what action should be taken to prevent

such incidents in future.

Following the spill, the state government had sealed the mill and seized its security deposit of ₹25 lakh. The mill may also face action for contaminating the canal-based water under the northern India Canal Draining Act, the official added.

A state government official said following the leakage, the main priority of the government was to ensure potable drinking water to people living in Faridkot,

Muktsar and Fazilka districts where the water supply is canal based. People were asked not to use the water which was contaminated because of the leakage and inlets of reservoirs were also closed.

Contaminated water with dead fish and snakes had also entered Rajasthan through Indira Gandhi canal from Punjab, prompting the authorities to stop drinking water supply from the canal as a precautionary measure. The

canal supplies water to Hanumangarh, Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and other districts in north and western region of the desert state.

As many as eight to ten varieties of fish including cat fish, common carp died because of low level of oxygen in the river.

Another 1,000 cusecs of water will be released again from the Pong dam into the Beas to flush out the contaminated water from the canals, the official said.