Bathinda: A private company has refuted charges of ethanol production at its distillery in Mansoorwal Kalan village near Zira in Ferozepur, claiming it was used only for blending in petrol and not for non-denatured alcohol.
Malbros International Private Limited made the submissions in an affidavit before the National Green Tribunal, which were uploaded on Tuesday. These come in response to a pro-environment organisation, Public Action Committee (PAC), and the Punjab govt demanding permanent closure of the distillery.
Protests by residents of 44 villages alleging contamination of groundwater by industrial waste and damage of crops prompted the closure of the distillery in July 2002. The Punjab Pollution Control Board withdrew its consent to operate on July 6, 2023, citing environmental violations.
In its affidavit, the company stated it was lawfully engaged in the distillation of spirits since 2007 with a permitted capacity of 100 kilolitres per day (KLD). This was enhanced by 180 KLD capacity for the manufacturing of ethanol, with a valid environmental clearance at another plant, it added.
The clearance was obtained for a capacity of 600 KLD on Jan 15, 2018, upon clearing all the legal formalities, including a public hearing by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), but the ethanol plant operated at a capacity of only 180 KLD, according to Malbros.
Post-expansion, the ethanol manufacturing began its commercial production on Feb 3, 2022, and supplied 75 lakh bulk litres of ethanol per month to oil marketing companies. The operations were halted in less than six months on July 24, 2022.
During the previous hearing on Sept 9, Malbros submitted that it may be permitted to continue with the production of ethanol in its plant and the unit shall stop the production of grain-based liquor altogether. Reacting to it, the Public Accounts Committee, on Oct 25, sought a number of clarifications.
