BEAS SPILL: NOTICE TO PUNJAB

A Punjab and Haryana high court bench on Monday sought response from the Centre and Punjab on a PIL seeking ‘exemplary’ fine on Gurdaspur-based Chadha sugar mill for the deadly spill into the Beas.

CHANDIGARH: A Punjab and Haryana high court vacation bench on Monday sought response from the Centre and Punjab on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking ‘exemplary’ fine on Gurdaspur-based Chadha sugar mill from where molasses had spilled into Beas killing hundreds of fish and contaminating water for several kilometers.

The plea was filed by SIOLI (Serving in Organisations for Legal Initiatives), a lawyers’ group of Punjab. The response has been sought by July 12. Among the 12 respondents are many central and state government departments and Chadha sugar mill. The petition questions government as to why the assessment of losses was not done before imposing fine on the mill. The firm has been fined Rs 6 crore by the government.

“Due to political pressure, no action has been taken against those responsible for the disaster by the police so far,” the petition said. When the forest and wildlife departments reported the matter to Batala police, the latter raised 22 objections to their complaint.

The authorities have neither any concern for general public nor respect for natural resources, the petition further alleges.

The petitioner also wants to know under whose order water was released from the Ranjit Sagar dam. “It resulted in contaminated water reaching the Malwa region and south eastern parts of Rajasthan,” the petition states.

The petition also seeks quashing of licences of Chadha sugar mills, declaring environmental emergency in Malwa region and imposing ban on fishing. The petition also seeks directions to the Central and state pollution control bBoards to monitor discharge of contaminated water from sugar mills and distilleries in Punjab.