| The units are Pioneer Pesticides Ltd, United Phosphorous Ltd, Crops Chemicals, Shiwalik Agro, Hindustan Pulveriser and Sudershan Consolidate Ltd. With the intervention of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, a special team of officials, including the chairman of the SPCB, R D Tiwari; the principal secretary (agriculture), S S Sawhney; and the commissioner/secretary (industries), Lokesh Jha conducted inspection today and issued orders for the closure of these units. |
| These new units, with huge investment from outside the state, were penalised also for not installing pollution-control devices. Untreated effluents from these units were being allowed to flow into a nearby stream, causing high water pollution. |
| Residents from about ten nearby villages also held demonstrations at Samba town last week on the problem and urged the government to take action in this regard. |
| They alleged their crops were irreparably damaged due to the highly polluted water being used for irrigation. A team of officials from the agriculture department and scientists from Jammu Agriculture University also visited the area to assess the situation. |
| The team also found these units operating "illegally". A few of them had managed to get temporary permission to operate with the alleged connivance of some members of the PCB. |
| Jammu District Magistrate Hirdesh Kumar Singh will execute the orders and the chief engineer (power development department), Jammu, has been asked to snap power supply to these units. |
| Tiwari told Business Standard a team constituted for the purpose would conduct inspections of various hazardous units set up in the state and penalise those that violated board norms. |
| He said about a score of such units were said to be operating in Kathua, Samba and the Jammu Industrial Area and action was likely to be taken against them in a couple of days. |
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