Pune, October 21: With at least 50 acres of crops having been damaged due to toxic emissions, the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has slapped a closure notice on a fertiliser factory in Loni on the Pune-Solapur Road.
The order issued by member-secretary Dilip Boralkar from MPCB’s regional office here on Friday has asked Ramkrishi Rasayan to shut operations within 24 hours. It has also ordered the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) to immediately disconnect power supply to the plant.
When contacted, the local head of the factory, S R Chimote, refused to comment.
MPCB, which has been monitoring the factory for pollution over the last five years, sent its officers to Loni to collect crop and others samples for testing after a series of complaints by local residents and farmers.
Finally, it issued the closure notice when test reports revealed that the levels of sulphur dioxide and mist acid being released into the atmosphere — at 98 ppm (per parts million) and 69 ppm respectively — were much higher than the permissible limits of 50 ppm.
According to P N Mundhe, MPCB regional officer, the owners of the factory were asked to take pollution control measures way back in 1999. But even though it did upgrade its technology, the MPCB found toxic emissions above permissible norms in 2004 again.
‘‘We asked them to undertake an impact assessment emission study, abide by the EPA Act for exhaust emissions and also abide by Corporate Responsibility for Environment Protection (CREP) norms. Despite this, the factory was violating environmental norms,’’ said Mundhe.
Ramkrishna Rasayan, which has been operating in the Loni gram panchayat region on the Pune-Solapur Road since 1966, manufactures liquid sulphuric acid used in making single super phosphate fertiliser. Although it adopts the ‘‘double conversion double absorption’’ process for controlling air pollution, the efficacy is still found wanting, said MPCB authorities.
