JOIN USLiquor baron Vijay Mallya’s greenfield beer plant in Nanjangud is still in the process of being set up and is not operating as of now.
Clarifying a statement issued by Minister for Ecology and Environment Sogadu Shivanna on United Breweries Limited, owned by Mallya, that it was ‘unofficially’ operating without the State Pollution Control Board clearance, Vaman Acharya, chairman of the Board said that the UB Ltd is not operational as of now.
Environmental hazard
Minister Shivanna had told mediapersons that UB Ltd’s effluent treatment plant (ETP) was not approved by the Pollution Control Board and it was causing damage to the environment.
But Vaman Acharya said that the plant is undergoing various inspections by the environment officers, where-in it was found that their ETP plan was not approved.
“It is a routine inspection conducted by the officers before given approval to establish any plant. We found that the ETP was already constructed without the plan being approved by the Board.”
M G Raghuram, environment officer, Mysore rural who visited the Nanjangud plant a month ago told Deccan Herald that the ‘flow sheet’ or the plan of the ETP was yet to be approved by Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
Approval pending
“UB Ltd had already constructed the ETP plant in anticipation that their ‘flow sheet’ would be approved by the Board. But, the Board is yet to approve the plan as the file is still pending with the chief environmental officer. With regard to the ETP’s standard, the Board will be able to analyse only after the ETP starts functioning, where-in samples from the ETP will be tested to check if the firm has adhered to the Board’s requirements,” he said.
Minister Shivanna had said that besides United Breweries Ltd in Nanjungud, he had recently inspected several manufacturing industries, including Cipsa RIC India Ltd in Tumkur, Harihar Polyfibres and noticed that they were all polluting the environment by violating all rules.