Don’t set up R&D plant in Pune, Dow decreed

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Pune, July 4:: A people’s tribunal has decreed against the setting up of a proposed R&D facility of DOW Chemicals at village Shinde in Pune saying if Maharashtra government cleared the project it would endanger natural life, violate human rights and pollute environment in the region.

In its report released in Pune, ‘Loknyayala’, the people’s tribunal comprising two former Bombay High Court judges, Justice Suresh and Justice G G Loney, has said that the agitation of villagers, who have been opposing construction of the American company’s plant since January this year, is justified as effects of the activities carried out there are bound to pollute air, water and land.

The judges observed that Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), which has no authority over the land in question or on the subject of R&D, has taken upon itself to give directions to the State Pollution Control Board to issue no Objection certificate to DOW.

In its findings, declared after examining 18 witnesses though DOW kept away from the hearing, the judges also concluded that the Pune-based National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) issued a no objection certificate to the company without even caring to read the project report.