Patiala May 25, 2018 : After hearing, the matter in detail, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) authorities here on Thursday held that an environment catastrophe of a very high level has occurred due to the spillage of molasses from the mill into river Beas leading to killing of large number of fishes and other aquatic life of various species.
The Beas river is the only living river of Punjab and any environmental damage to this river has viewed very seriously by the State and the society. Moreover, the polluted water of the river created anxiety and fear in the minds of the people and therefore the State Govt. has to work overtime to ensure that no loss of human or animal life happen.
All the relevant departments of the Govt. were on their toes for about a week to ensure safe drinking water for the people dependent upon river based water supply schemes. All said and done, damage to river Beas and its flora and fauna has been immense and the ecological degradation caused by the incident shall take years to regenerate the ecology of the river.
It is a fact that pollution of river Beas on account of spillage of molasses has happened because the mill management has not paid required attention for the safety of the installation of the mill as a result the incident has happened with large scale environmental proportions. It was the added duty of the mill to take the issue of industrial safety of the mill more seriously in view of the fact that the industry is situated on the river bed which is environmentally sensitive zone.
Any pressure or any circumstances to crush more sugar cane than the capacity of the sugar mill fixed as per the environmental clearance granted by the Board does not justify the claim of the management to store additional molasses in an unscientific manner especially in view of the fact that the mill is situated in a very sensitive zone.
In this view of the matter, the following is decided:-
1. That the Mill industry shall remain sealed as per the directions already issued vide letter No. 1436 dt. 17.05.2018, under section 33 A of water ( Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1974.
2. That the industry will not restart any process unless all necessary pollution control measures are taken
3. That the industry will not restart its operations until it obtains the fresh consent to operate u/s 25/26 of Water(Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974.
The Mill shall not store molasses in tanks other than the Mild steel tanks with cooling arrangements, recirculation, proper venting, arrangement of adding anti foam/Biocide which shall be of sufficient capacity and location as per IS : 5521-1980 code for the environmentally sound storage of Molasses.
The Mill will obtain necessary approval from the Department of Excise and Taxation for Generation, Storage & Sale of molasses as per East Punjab Molasses (Control Act), 1948 and the industry shall take necessary approval from the Director of Factories for the compliance of the provisions of Factories Act, 1948.
M/s Chadha Sugar & Industries (P) Ltd, Molasses Based Distillery (30KL) and M/s Chadha Sugar & Industries (P) Ltd, Grain Based Distillery (30KL) shall not start any process unless these take all necessary steps for bio-composting of its spent wash to the satisfaction of PPCB.
M/s Adie Broswon Breweries (P) Ltd shall not start its operations until it make its effluent treatment plant fully operational to treat its trade effluent as its effluent treatment plant has been damaged due to spillage of molasses of M/s Chadha Sugar & Industries (P) Ltd.
The Mill shall undertake an endowment programme of Rs. 5.00 crore(five crore) to be deposited with PPCB as environmental compensation for causing degradation of ecology of Beas river due to spillage of its molasses in the river, on the basis of polluter pays principal, as held by Honble Supreme Court of India in MC Mehta case as per an Action Plan to be given by PPCB.
This money shall be utilized for conservation and restoration of ecology of river Beas including rejuvenation of aquatic life. An Action Plan in this regard shall be prepared by Department of Forest, Department of Wild life, department of water resources, PPCB, PAU Ludhiana and GADVASU, Ludhiana. This Action Plan is to be spread over a period of five years so that sustainable results of ecological rejuvenation could be achieved.
Since, the management of the mill has remained negligent in its approach to safe guard its installation which lead to pollution in River Beas, leading to large scale mortality of aquatic life therefore prosecution against the mill and the responsible persons shall be filed in the competent court of law u/s 43 and 44 read with section 47 of the Water (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 by environmental engineer of PPCB regional office Batala after proper verification.
The criminal complaint shall be filed against the mill and against the persons who at the time of the offence was committed was incharge of and was responsible to the company for the conduct and business of the company as mentioned in section 47 of the said Act.
A committee consisting of representative of Director of Factories, State Excise & Taxation Commissioner and Chairman, PPCB shall be constituted to suggest further safeguards required in the mill with a view to ensure that such incidents do not re-occur in future.