Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court asked the Punjab government Friday to file detailed reports of the findings of the four new committees the latter constituted to look into the allegations levelled by protesting villagers against a liquor factory at Zira in Ferozepur district.
The high court has given the government a fortnight to submit its reports.
Hundreds of villagers have been protesting for the past five months outside the gates of Malbros International Private Limited, a liquor factory at Mansurwal village, alleging that its effluents cause air, water, and soil pollution. The factory, which has been shut since July 24, had moved the high court to restart operations.
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‘A lot depends on how panels hold probe’
As the matter came up for resumed hearing Friday, senior advocate R.S. Bains, representing the protesters, informed the court that the government constituted four expert committees to look into the various aspects of the ongoing protest.
He said the committees were asked to assess the possible environmental pollution, damage to human and animal health, and damage to crops. Calling the move appreciative, he said a lot depended on the manner in which the committees conducted their investigation to the satisfaction of the protesters.
Punjab advocate general Vinod Ghai told the court that members of three committees were already at the site and were trying to co-opt members from among the protesters before starting the process of gathering samples.
Senior advocate Gursharan Mann, who is also representing the protesters, told the court that the agitators had suggested that factory owner Deep Malhotra and his family drink the water from the borewells around their factory for a week. “If they are able to drink that water without falling sick, we will vacate the site,” she said.
Justice Vinod Bhardwaj said the question before the court was not if the water is polluted or not but if the factory is causing pollution. “The water could be completely unpotable, even poisonous, but the question is if it is caused by the factory or not. The court has to go by the evidence and till now, whatever evidence is available before us in the form of various reports, we have to go by that,” said the judge.
Both the monitoring committees of the NGT and Punjab Pollution Control Board have given a clean chit to the factory after collecting and testing samples from various locations in and around the industrial unit.
Advocate Bains said the evidence was for everyone to see. “The evidence is visible. The water is dirty and a black ash is in the air and has also been dumped near the factory. The right to liquor is not a fundamental right but the right to life is,” said Bains.
The matter will now come up for hearing on February 28.
‘Considering protesters’ demands’
Beginning last Sunday, the police and the protesters clashed for three days at Mansurwal village. Hundreds of FIRs were lodged against the protesters and several leaders arrested. As visuals of the clashes and police lathicharge went viral, the crowds swelled at the protest site with various factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union joining in.
The Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government on Wednesday rushed to constitute expert committees to investigate the allegations levelled by the protesters.
Meanwhile at the protest site, the leaders of the Zira Sanjha Morcha have refused to cooperate with the expert committees, demanding the release of their colleagues who were arrested in the past few days. “We are in talks with the farmers and are trying to convince them to be associated with these committees. We are also considering their various demands,” SSP Ferozepur Kanwardeep Kaur told mediapersons at Mansurwal village Friday.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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