Zira: High Court panel to visit ethanol plant, meet villagers today

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, January 16

The three-member committee, set up by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to find out the financial losses incurred by the ethanol plant of Malbros International due to its forced closure by protesters, arrived here today to start its investigation.

Committee members Justice RK Nehru (Retd), Babbar Khan, advocate, and Viraj Tidke, Additional Commissioner, Excise and Taxation, met DC Amrit Singh, ADC (G) Sagar Setia and SDM, Zira, Gagandeep Singh.

The team also met representatives of the Public Action Committee (PAC) and the Sanjha Morcha.

After the meeting, Kapil Dev, PAC member, alleged that they were not allowed to attend the meeting by the administration. “We have given a copy of the proceedings of the NGT court to the committee members to bring to their notice that the matter is sub judice in the NGT court,” he added.

Morcha member Sandeep Dhillon alleged that the administration was always talking in favour of the plant management, adding that members of the morcha should have been formally called for the meeting.

Former DSP Balwinder Sekhon said villagers had been told to given an affidavit to the committee tomorrow, mentioning their points.

“How is it possible to make an affidavit overnight”, asked Sekhon, adding that he had asked for some clarifications from the administration regarding the plant which were still awaited.

On November 22, the High Court had formed a three-member committee, headed by former Justice RK Nehru (Retd). The court had also given liberty to the committee to associate a chartered accountant/ auditor of its choice to assess the losses to the plant, as claimed by its management, and submit a report.

Earlier, in their petition, plant owners had said they had incurred losses to the tune of Rs 17.80 crore, besides recurring expenses of Rs 1.5 crore towards the salaries and other establishment costs.

Various committees, including had completed the ground survey and collected samples, which had been sent to various labs for the report.

Amrit Singh, DC, said the members of the committee would visit the ethanol plant tomorrow and meet local residents and panchayat members.

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