Shadow Correspondent
Jammu, APr, 30
The residents of Bhori, Talab Tillo including Wazir Lane, Durga Nagar and Patta Bhori (Ward no 41,40 and 61) and adjoining areas today held peaceful protest outside M/s Devan Modern Breweries Ltd, Bohri against the indifferent attitude of the administration and State Pollution Control Board for not taking action against the owners of the Breweries who have continued the factory operations in the densely populated residential areas of these wards.
The operations of the Unit in residential area is a health hazard to the residents of the area including women, old-aged, children and the sickly.
The continued operations of the factory unit in the area has caused sufferings to the residents of the area since it has led to air, water and noise pollutions that the SPCB has termed as “more than permissible limits”. In December 2018, a show cause Notice was served to the M/s Devan Modern Breweries Ltd by SPCB asking the former to explain within 30 days as to why legal action including Closure should not be taken against it for violation of various Environmental laws.
The residents claim that the State Government had ordered shifting of the factory operations from the residential area of Bohri in early Nineties for which Land (industrial area) was also allotted to Devan Breweries by the Government.
However, the factory continues to operate from its existing complex that is located in a thickly populated area.
The residents of the area claim that no action has been taken by the concerned authorities despite the fact that residents have approached every major concerned office/authority for shifting of operations of the factory as mandated by the various Supreme Court Rulings in similar cases and restrictions imposed by the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 , Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 of 2004 . Due to this , the residents continue to have faced unabated sufferings for the last 30 years.
The residents allege that instead of shifting the operations, the factory started its expansion in the North and East direction and constructed huge tanks allegedly for storing mollaces and fermentation process that extend right upto the boundary walls of the houses of some of the residents.
The residents feel that the Storage Tanks are not only structurally unsafe being a fire hazard but also its emit obnoxious and toxic odour coupled with black ash/soot that is a health hazard. The operations of the factory during late evenings and at night produces pungent smell that engulfs the whole area making the lives of the residents miserable.
” It is in utter desperation that we with our families have come on the roads to protest for our basic fundamental right to breath in clean air for which no action has been taken by authorities . We protest for our rights and against the callousness of the administrative machinery” said a member of the Youth Mohallah Welfare Committee , Wazir Lane .
The Youth Mohallah Welfare Committee, Wazir lane ward no. 41, Durga Nagar Welfare Committee, Ward no.40 and committees of ward 61, Patta Bohri jointly held the protest.
