The Punjab Pollution
Control Board (PPCB) has issued a show-cause notice to Patiala-based
distillery Nuway Organic Naturals (India) Limited for violating
environmental norms.
The board had
earlier conducted surprise checks on distilleries in the state and
collected water samples. Teams of the board had raided three
distilleries in the district and taken some samples, which failed the
test.
Subsequently, a notice under the Water (Prevention and Control of
Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution)
Act, 1981 was issued.
PPCB officials said
their engineers had found effluents in the plantation area and the
unit had installed a water pump using a flexible pipe in the
plantation area to drain out rainwater and effluents to the field
adjacent to its premises. “Though the unit had developed 3 acres of
land on its premises to utilise treated effluents, it had not been
disposing of the treated waste,“ said a PPCB engineer.
“Even the effluent
treatment plant installed in the distillery was not in proper working
condition as no effluent was being discharged from the tanks. The
tube-settling tank was empty and no effluent seemed to have been put
into it,“ said the engineer.
Another PPCB officer
said no energy meter was installed at the treatment plant and that the
unit failed to produce the records pertaining to the operations of the
plant. HTC
