Villagers warn of protests if Nira plant is reopened

PUNE: Villagers living in the vicinity of Jubilant Life Sciences’ chemical plant in Nira (Purandar taluka) have warned the company’s officials against resuming the plant’s operations. The plant was shut down on Thursday, a day after 38 workers had taken ill in a chemical leak.

The villagers have threatened to block the roads to the plant and stage an agitation if the plant continues to function in the area.

The condition of two of the workers is critical — both of them are undergoing treatment at KEM hospital in Pune; one is on ventilator support.


“The plant officials held a meeting with us on Friday and offered us various sops, but we refused to budge. We have warned them against reopening the plant. If they persist, we will block the road to the plant and take to the streets to protest against it,” said Vaibhav Konde, a villager and the vice-president of the Nira River Sangharsha Samiti.

Sachin More, president of the samiti, said, “The chemical plant is located in a residential zone and is just half-a-kilometre away from Nira river. We have been demanding its relocation to a chemical zone as its effluents have polluted the river.”

The plant is located on the boundaries of four talukas in Pune and Satara districts — Baramati, Purandar, Phaltan and Khandala. Bhatghar dam and Veer dam are built on the river. “About 300 villages in theses talukas are dependent on Nira river for agriculture and domestic use. They also have been protesting against the plant for many years,” Santosh Mohite, a villager, said.

The chemical plant is not the lone cause of pollution to the river. “There are distilleries and sugar factories located along the river, which are equally responsible for the pollution. However, we oppose the plant because it manufactures toxic chemicals, putting the lives of those of us living close to it at risk,” Nira resident Deepak More said.

Vivek Prakash, a senior official of Jubiliant Life Sciences’ corporate social responsibility wing, who met the villagers on Friday, told TOI that they will take the villagers’ demand to the company’s higher authorities. “The affected workers are our own people. We will not deny them anything they are owed. But the villagers’ demand to relocate the plant is unjust. The plant functions as per the norms. However, we will communicate their demand to our higher authorities,” Prakash told TOI.

On compensation to the affected workers, Prakash said, “A compensation is definitely under consideration. The chemical leak was unfortunate. The company has made all efforts to rehabilitate the affected, apart from bearing the cost of their medical treatment.”