Union minister visits sugar mill; ‘guilty won’t be spared’
KIRI AFGHANA (BATALA) : Taking a strict note of the rising pollution level in the Beas river, Union minister of state for water resources and river development, Arjun Ram Meghwal, on Wednesday visited the Chadha sugar mill, which was in the dock recently for disturbing the ecological balance in the Beas, by discharging thousands of quintals of molasses into the river.
Speaking to mediapersons after inspecting the mill, Meghwal said that the central government was in the process of drafting a long-term policy to safeguard river waters of the country.
“The state government had already taken strict action against laxity on the part of mill officials. A magisterial probe is already going on by the SDM, Batala, and once the probe is completed, further action will be taken on the basis of the report. However, let me assure you that the central government is working
State government has taken strict action against the mill. Batala SDM is holding a probe. Further action will be taken on the basis of the report. ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL, Union minister of state for water resources
on a long term policy to ensure such incidents are not repeated,” he assured.
He said that the primary motive of his visit was to collect first-hand information about this incident, as thousands of quintals of molasses spilled into the Beas not only killed thousands of fish, but also polluted the water leading to mass scarcity of water in Punjab and Rajasthan.
“Very soon, the central government is going to hold a regional conference in Chandigarh, where representatives of various states will discuss the steps to safeguard the river waters. We had already hosted such conferences in Kolkata and in the south, which had showed very good results,” he added.
When Meghwal asked officials if the disaster could have been averted, they said had proper cooling and re-circulation facilities existed in the storage tank, the catastrophe could have been avoided.
However, the contentious issue of the district administration pressurising the mill management into crushing sugarcane beyond its existing capacity did not crop up .Earlier, Meghwal, along with officials of the Gurdaspur administration, and the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) visited the mill and the site from where the molasses spilled over and entered into the Beas.
On May 6, thousands of quintals of molasses, a byproduct of sugar manufacturing process, spilled into the Beas, leading to death of thousands of fish and other precious water animal species.