Four panels to look into Zira protesters’ concerns

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, December 21

In order to break the logjam at Zira, where hundreds of people are sitting on a dharna against the alleged release of effluents by a distillery-cum-bioethanol plant at Mansurwala village, the government has decided to set up four committees to look into the concerns of protesters.

While a three-member committee has been constituted to look into the issue of water pollution and investigate the issue of public hearings not being initiated when the distillery was set up (in 2007), another four-member committee of doctors has been constituted to look into the cases of cancer and hepatitis-B among the people residing in villages in the vicinity of the plant. The third committee, comprising three soil scientists, has been constituted to look into the issue of impact on soil and water health by the discharge of effluents (if any).

Another three-member committee of veterinarians has been constituted to look into the impact on the health of livestock since the unit was set up.

The villagers have been asked to work in close coordination with the committees and guide them on where to take the samples for analysis. The Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner has been asked to send a list of villagers who would assist these committees.

Report in 10 days

• The decision to constitute the committees has been taken a day after Tuesday’s violent clash between farm unions and the police
• As the clash led to the government facing the Opposition’s ire, it decided to look in to the issue of pollution caused by the unit and its impact
• The committees have been asked to submit their reports within 10 days

Give priority to people’s lives: SAD

• SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday asked CM Bhagwant Mann to put lives of Zira’s residents above the interests of the distillery’s owners
• He asked Mann to address the groundwater pollution menace on a war footing instead of facilitating the ethanol unit