Ferozepur, August 19
It’s almost a month now that members of various farm unions have been protesting against the ethanol plant at Mansurwala village in Zira subdivision.
WORKERS FIND IT HARD TO SURVIVE
There is no industry in this border district and if this ethanol plant is closed too, it will be difficult for us to survive here. We request the farmers to lift the dharna and sort out the matter mutually. Jagsir, Labourer
They have been demanding the closure of the unit, which belongs to a former SAD MLA, over the charges of the alleged contamination of groundwater due to waste discharge.
Both, the plant workers and the farmers have come face to face, with the administration feeling virtually helpless.
The trouble started when a few residents of Mansurwala village complained that during the drilling of a borewell near the local gurdwara, something like country-made liquor started oozing out as soon as the level reached six-foot deep beneath the ground. Following the incident, members of various farm unions launched a crusade and have been sitting on a dharna, which entered 29th day today, in front of the plant.
Even National Green Tribunal (NGT) officials — Justice Jasbir Singh (retd), chairman of NGT’s monitoring committee, along with members Subodh Aggarwal and Rajya Sabha MP Balbir Singh Seechewal — also reached the site yesterday. The NGT team took samples from various places.
Talking to the media, the NGT officials said they had received complaints regarding toxic water coming out from the ground, following which they had come here to collect the samples. “The samples will be sent to the laboratories and anything else can be said after the reports are received,” said environmentalist and AAP MP Seechewal.
Meanwhile, plant workers, including Ashok Kumar, Jagsir Singh, Surjit Singh and others, said for the past several days, the unit was lying closed due to which it was difficult for them to make both ends meet.
Pawan Bansal, chief administrative officer of the plant, said the allegations levelled against them were frivolous. “After the manufacturing process, the waste water is sent to the treatment plant so that it could be reused,” Bansal said, claiming that there was no question of polluting the groundwater.
“I request that the administration should allow us to dig up the ground at some other place near the factory so that the villagers could be satisfied,” he said, reiterating that they were ready for any inquiry but the farmers should allow the unit to function.
