3 villages to hold ‘real public hearing’ against proposed cement plant

The people of Ranyala, Sardullapur and Badhoan villages in Garhshankar tehsil of Hoshiarpur district under the banner of ‘Pyaryavaran Sangharsh Samiti’, who had rejected the January ‘public hearing’, have now scheduled a ‘real public hearing’ on September 11. It will be held with regard to the proposed unit of Ambuja Cement Company to be built in these villages.

The representatives of ‘Pyaryavaran Sangharsh Samiti’ Tarsem Singh Jassowal, Gurmukh Singh Sodhi, Jujhar Singh Gujharpur, Pritampal Singh Ranyala, Surinder Badhoan, Parminder Singh Pansara, Hardeep Singh Sona and Amanpreet Singh Baddoan jointly said the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) did not inform the villagers properly with regard to the public hearing held on January 19 under the leadership of the Garhshankar SDM. There were only seven people from Ranyala, Sardullapur and Badhoan villages in that public hearing along with Pollution Control Board officials, representatives of Ambuja Company and some labourers.

In this regard, the sarpanch/panch and other important persons of 20-25 villages in the area have written that they were against the proposed unit of Ambuja Cement.

The representatives of the samiti said the environmental impact assessment report submitted by the company to the PPCB had mentioned many wrong facts. A government primary school was located very close to the proposed unit, which was not even mentioned in the report.

The Environment Struggle Committee has sent a letter to the PPCB Chairman, Hoshiarpur DC, XEN of Pollution Control Board, Hoshiarpur, and SDM of Garhshankar, inviting them to participate in the ‘real public hearing’ on September 11.

The committee has also invited Sri Anandpur Sahib MP Malvinder Singh Kang, Hoshiarpur MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal, Garhshankar MLA Jai Krishna Rowdy, former MLA Surinder Singh Bhullewal Rathan, BJP leader Nimisha Mehta, CPM’s Darshan Singh Mattu, BSP’s Avtar Singh Karimpuri and former minister Sohan Singh Thandal. The members of the committee have written to the Chief Minister of Punjab seeking his intervention and have also demanded the cancellation of this proposed unit.

On the other hand, RTI activist Parwinder Singh Kittna has sent a complaint to the Hoshiarpur SSP, seeking to register a case against the officials of Ambuja Cement company for giving misleading information to government officials.