Sukhbir writes to Union Environment Min

Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Badal on Monday accused the Congress-led Punjab Government of “patronizing an environmental massacre in the State by turning a blind eye to the massive and man-made ecological disaster caused by Chadha Sugar Industries and owners of the distillery”.

Sukhbir, in a letter to the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Dr Harsh Vardhan, described the massive pollution of Beas river water and “shocking” scale of death of aquatic life in water bodies in Punjab as “a shocking example of the brazen insensitivity of the offending parties with active patronage of the state Government”.

He said that the mill is owned by “highly connected political leader” who is also “religious advisor to the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh”.

“The grave irony of the tragedy authored by a religious advisor of the Chief Minister is that it has led to the contamination of the sacred Kali Bein which is historically associated with the life of Guru Nanak Dev ji,” he said.

Demanding immediate arrest of “the members of the management and the directors of the offending Mill or distillery, who are guilty of an inter-state crime now”, Sukhbir said that they should be proceeded against under relevant provisions of law for endangering lives of millions of people in Punjab and Rajsthan apart from causing a massacre of aquatic life including fish and birds.

He said that the Central Government should directly address the crisis as it has already become a multi-state calamity.

Sukhbir also demanded that a central team from the Ministry of Environment should be deputed for an on-the-spot study of the situation. “The team should assess the extent of damage caused by this calamity so far and likely to be caused in coming days and determine the scale of compensation to be paid to the affected people,” he demanded adding that the burden of this compensation should be borne by the guilty industrialist.

“The environmental disaster is caused directly by the shockingly criminal andwillful defiance of all norms and laws concerning ecology by powerful people enjoying direct patronage of the ruling dispensation in Punjab,” he said.