Chandigarh: Faced with the growing ire of farmers in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann Tuesday announced the closure of a liquor factory that has been facing protests for seven months.
In his statement, Mann said that a liquor factory of Malbros International Limited at Zira tehsil in Ferozepur district will be closed with immediate effect to “preserve the environment”. The decision, he said in a video statement, was taken after due deliberations with environmental experts and legal luminaries.
ਪੰਜਾਬ ਦੀ ਆਬੋ-ਹਵਾ ਨੂੰ ਕਿਸੇ ਨੂੰ ਵੀ ਖਰਾਬ ਨਹੀਂ ਕਰਨ ਦਿੱਤਾ ਜਾਵੇਗਾ…ਇਸ ਕਰਕੇ ਕਾਨੂੰਨੀ ਮਾਹਿਰਾਂ ਨਾਲ ਸਲਾਹ ਕਰਨ ਤੋਂ ਬਾਅਦ ਲੋਕਹਿੱਤ 'ਚ ਇੱਕ ਵੱਡਾ ਫੈਸਲਾ ਲਿਆ ਹੈ…
ਮੈਂ ਜ਼ੀਰਾ ਸ਼ਰਾਬ ਫੈਕਟਰੀ ਨੂੰ ਬੰਦ ਕਰਨ ਦੇ ਹੁਕਮ ਜਾਰੀ ਕਰ ਦਿੱਤੇ ਨੇ ਤੇ ਭਵਿੱਖ 'ਚ ਵੀ ਜੇ ਕੋਈ ਵਾਤਾਵਰਣ ਵਿਗਾੜਨ ਦੀ ਕੋਸ਼ਿਸ਼ ਕਰੇਗਾ, ਬਖਸ਼ਿਆ ਨਹੀਂ ਜਾਵੇਗਾ.. pic.twitter.com/0ZYruxvYcu
— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) January 17, 2023
The chief minister said that no one, no matter how affluent, could take law of the land for granted and that anyone guilty of breaking them would be dealt with sternly.
Located at Mansurwal village in Punjab’s Ferozepur district, the factory has been non-functional since last July after farmers of the village started a permanent sit-in protest outside its gates alleging that the unit was causing air, water, and soil pollution.
Over the past few months, the issue has snowballed into a point of contention between the farmer unions and the Bhagwant Mann government.
The factory is owned by liquor baron Deep Malhotra, a former Member of Legislative Assembly of the Shiromani Akali Dal who is now said to be close to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Malhotra’s offices were among those raided by the Enforcement Directorate last October as part of the investigations into the alleged Delhi excise policy scam.
Sources in the Punjab government cited the growing resentment among farmer unions and an inevitable Lok Sabha bypoll in Jalandhar as possible reasons for the “change of heart”.
One of the chief drivers of AAP’s landslide victory in the Punjab elections, farmers have been up in arms against the Mann government for various reasons in the past few months.
It’s also significant to note that the decision came days after the death of Congress MP from Jalandhar Santokh Chaudhary. Chaudhary’s death Saturday will necessitate a by-election for the parliamentary seat.
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AAP’s ‘flip-flop’
The AAP government’s decision puts an end to a seven-month battle waged with farmers of Punjab.
In October, Malhotra approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court to have the protesters removed and the factory reopened. The last hearing took place on 23 December during which the high court told the Punjab government to file fresh reports by expert committees regarding the allegations of pollution.
The next date of hearing is on 28 February.
The Punjab government’s decision, however, came even before the various expert committees constituted submitted their reports. It also came hours after a high-court-appointed panel visited the site of protest.
In his statement, Mann said that the decision was taken “in keeping in view the effects of this project on the environment and ecology of the state” and that the project could have disturbed the ecological balance of the area.
The statement is in stark contrast to the stand his government took earlier regarding the factory.
For three consecutive days in December, the Punjab Police clashed with the swelling ranks of protesters at Mansurwal. The clashes occurred after the Mann government, following the directions of the high court, ordered that the protesters be forcibly removed from outside the gate of the factory.
Hundreds of cases were registered against the protesters, apart from many of them being cane charged.
The Mann government maintained silence throughout the multiple hearings of the case —the orders of the high court with regard to the forcible removal of the protesters, the lodging of the FIRs against them, and the attachment of the land and property of the protesters. All of these went uncontested by the government in court.
Sources in the Punjab government told ThePrint that the decision could also be part of the AAP government’s preparations for the Jalandhar parliamentary byelection.
Among the various grouses that the protesters had against the government was the alacrity with which it deposited Rs 20 crore after the high court ordered it to compensate for the losses being incurred by the factory owner.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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