MPCB cracks down on 17 sugar firms, distilleries

The Times of India , Saturday, March 07, 2015
Correspondent : Samrat Phadnis

KOLHAPUR: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has cracked down on 17 sugar factories, distillery units and a power generation plant and forfeited their bank guarantees of Rs 85 lakh for flouting environmental norms.

These industries are situated in the Panchganga and Warna river basins. While 16 of the industries are in Kolhapur district, Rajarambapu Patil cooperative sugar factory is located in Walwa taluka of Sangli district.

The environmental watchdog also sent notices to these industries asking them to follow the norms and warned that failure to do so would result in their working licences being revoked. Except for Dalmia sugar factory in Asurle Porle of Panhala taluka and Renuka sugar factory (formerly known as Panchganga factory) near Ichalkaranji, all the other factories and distillery units are headed by Congress and Nationalist Congress Party leaders.

MPCB has forfeited the bank guarantees of several industries from time to time but it had never taken action against a number of industries together. The MPCB issued orders to the banks to forfeit the guarantees on Thursday.

The crackdown comes after a committee appointed by the Pune divisional commissioner visited the region in January and submitted a report to the MPCB. The Bombay high court, while hearing a public interest litigation regarding pollution in the Panchganga river, had asked the divisional commissioner to form the committee.

Of the 17 industries, only Rajarambapu factory, Tatyasaheb Kore Warna factory and Orient Green Power Company in Gaganbavda are not located in the Panchganga river basin. Orient Green Power has been sued for air pollution.

The other industries who faced action are Datta sugar factory in Shirol, Kumbhi factory and distillery, Bhogavati factory and distillery, Kolhapur sugar distillery, Rajaram sugar factory in Kolhapur, D Y Patil sugar factory in Gaganbavda, Saideep distillery (Panchganga distillery acquired by Shree Renuka Sugars), Jawahar factory in Hupari and Appasaheb Nalawade factory and distillery in Gadhinglaj.

Each of these industries had submitted bank guarantees of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each for effluent treatment plants at their premises. The MPCB found that the plants were not working and that the industries were not following the Corporate Responsibility for Environmental Protection norms set by the Union government.

S S Doke, regional officer of MPCB, Kolhapur, told TOI on Friday that the action was necessary since it had clearly emerged during the inspection that these industries are violating environmental norms. "Recent incidences of mass fish deaths in the Bhogavati and Warna rivers point to how these factories are flouting the norms. In one case, we found that the distillery's environment licence had expired," he said.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/MPCB-cracks-down-on-17-sugar-firms-distilleries/articleshow/46482022.cms
 


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