NGT notice to Punjab, Centre on Beas spill

Ravi S Singh

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 23

Even as the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) on Wednesday issued a notice to Chadha Sugar Mill for the molasses spill into the Beas, asking why action should not be initiated against it for alleged violations, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in Delhi issued a notice to Punjab, the Centre and their agencies on a petition filed by Punjab’s AAP MLAs.

Acting Chairperson of the NGT Justice Jawad Rahim issued notices to the Punjab Pollution Control Board, the Municipal Corporations of Ludhiana and Jalandhar and the Central Pollution Control Board besides the Punjab and Union Governments.

Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Sukhpal Singh Khaira accused Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh of “tacit support to owners of industries guilty of polluting Punjab’s rivers.” Khaira, Bathinda (Rural) and Mansa MLAs Rupinder Singh Ruby and Nazar Singh Manshahia, who moved the NGT,   were represented by AAP’s Dakha legislator HS Phoolka.

The petitioners alleged that poisonous discharge — untreated water, industrial and chemical waste — into the Beas and the Sutlej had endangered aquatic animals and local residents, especially in the Malwa belt. 

With contaminated water entering the Rajasthan feeder, Rajasthan Sikh Education and Welfare Society chief Hardeep Singh Diboiba too filed a complaint with the tribunal. The Indira Gandhi canal supplies water to Hanumangarh, Sriganganagar, Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and other districts in north and western region of the desert state. (With PTI inputs)