NGT: Dismantle Malbros Distillery, Notice to Panjab Govt over Water Pollution

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered the permanent closure and demolition of the Malbros International distillery in the village Mansurwal Kalan, Zira, Ferozepur. This was possible through the sustained protest by 40 villagers in the area over the distillery's water, air, and land pollution. The protest started on 24 Jul 2022. The Public Action Committee took the case to the NGT. The Zira distillery is owned by Shiromani Akali Dal former Member of Legislative Assembly Deep Malhotra. As the protest grew, Aam Aadmi Party’s Member of Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) Balbir Singh Seechewal gave a clean chit to the water samples from the distillery. He was later found to be wrong. Shielding Malhotra, the Panjab government tried to evict protesters, even arrested them, but people insisted on correct water samples being collected. The PAC statement says, ‘Test reports by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and independent committees confirmed what the people had been saying—that Malbros had polluted the groundwater and harmed public health. On the strength of this evidence, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), and the Punjab government finally refused the company consent to operate.’ On 18 Jan 2023, the Panjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann announced closure of the distillery but did not pass orders in the last 2.5 years. The closure of the distillery is a huge victory for the villagers and environmentalists. However, PAC warns, ‘Malbros is now trying to restart its second unit—an ethanol plant in the same premises. The community is determined to stop any such restart.’ Meanwhile, taking suo motu cognizance of a media report on uranium contamination of Panjab's drinking water sources, the NGT has issued notices to PPCB, Department of Water Supply and Sanitation, Department of Health and Family Welfare, and CPCB. NGT observed that the matter raises issues of violation of Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, and Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 (earlier coverage).