Patiala, August 2: More than two months after the molasses’ spill into the Beas, the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) is yet to collect the entire penalty from the errant Chadha Sugar Mill. Sealed and fined Rs 5 crore, the mill at Kiri Afghana in Gurdaspur has so far paid Rs 1 crore, whereas more than Rs 3 crore is required to revive Beas’ ecology destroyed by the spillage.
The PPCB, it is learnt, is yet to work out the time-frame to collect the remaining fine even though Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh had warned against any laxity. “None of the company promoters, including Jasdeep Kaur Chadha, have been named in the notice sent to the management of the mill, owned by a relative of CM’s confidant Paramjit Singh Sarna,” said a top officer.
The PPCB had on May 24 ordered that the mill be sealed and a fine of Rs 5 crore imposed, which, it claimed, was the highest ever in Punjab. The money was to be used “for the conservation and restoration of Beas’ ecology”. A case too was filed.
“We are in the process of finalising the time-frame for collecting the pending fine. The management needn’t pay it in one go,” PPCB chairman Satwinder Singh Marwaha said, adding that a Beas revival plan had been drafted.
Source Tribune India
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