NO TOXIC DUMPING BY TORRENT PHARMA, SPCB CLARIFIES

Letter:
The State Pollution Control Board- Sikkim (SPCB-Sikkim) has been working as a Regulatory Body in preventing any form of environmental pollution in the State of Sikkim since its inception. There have been cases of closing down of some of the units which have violated the norms prescribed by SPCB-Sikkim.
In the recent past, there has been a reporting in a few local papers regarding violation of pollution control norms by one pharma company (M/s TORRENT PHARMACEUTICALS) 32nd No, Martam, East Sikkim. On the basis of the complaint received and in addition to the regular monitoring, the State Pollution Board- Sikkim started constantly monitoring the functioning of the effluent treatment plant (ETP) by carrying out several surprise visits. One of such visits were also accompanied by two members of the complainants. After having constantly monitored the working of the whole system, the SPCB-Sikkim has found that the dumping of toxic chemicals as alleged in the report is unfounded, baseless and misleading.
During the several visits led by the Member Secretary of the SPCB-Sikkim and accompanied by the Principal Scientist, the Assistant Scientific Officer, Scientist ‘B’ and the Assistant Environmental Engineer, the visiting team failed to trace out and find any violation of the norms as alleged in the report.
 On the basis of the findings, the SPCB-Sikkim refues the allegations made by the group as it is unfounded, baseless and misleading. However, the Board requests the civil society to keep an eye on any wrongful doing by any company and in the event of concrete evidence shall not shy away from closing the said Unit.
(Press statement issued by the State Pollution Control Board, Sikkim)