A slag-choked Subernarekha may hope to breathe easy sometime soon. The Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board (JSPCB) — possibly chastised by a CAG report on Jharkhand’s poor conservation of rivers — has served a 15-day deadline to steel wire manufacturer Usha Martin, asking it to state measures taken to check dumping of industrial waste in the river or face closure. Senior JSPCB officials said on Tuesday that a team from Ranchi on a visit to Adityapur last week had found the medium-scale steel unit violating all environment norms and disposing of tonnes of slag in and around Subernarekha. JSPCB member secretary S.K. Sinha told The Telegraph that the industrial unit’s hazardous practice was disturbing ecology of the region. He said unburnt coal particles and fly ash from the Usha Martin plant were also poisoning the air and the water of Sitarampur reservoir. “The dam is a major source of sustenance for the region and we have learnt that untreated pollutants from the mill make their way to the water body. The problem gets worse during the rains, when heavy metals and industrial waste dumped in the open flow into the river and reservoir,” Sinha pointed out. When contacted, Usha Martin officials in Ranchi refused to comment on the pollution board notice. Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time that the JSPCB is serving a notice to the mill. According to sources, at least four such notices have been served since 2010. “Notices for non-compliance of pollution norms were shot to the company in the past. But it did not bother to revert back to JSPCB, let alone launch corrective measures,” said a Jamshedpur-based pollution board official. R.N. Choudhury, regional officer of JSPCB in Jamshedpur, said he wasn’t authorised to take action against the wayward unit. “My job is to report to the headquarters, which I have done after complaints from residents swamped my office. It is up to the JSPCB to act tough now,” he said. Sinha asserted that the board wouldn’t remain a mere spectator this time. “We have given Usha Martin time to explain and comply with rules. If it fails, we may shut down the unit,” he said. Singh claimed that they were also following up pollution posers caused by Tata Steel and its subsidiaries and had asked the units to come up with a mitigation plan to save Subernarekha and Kharkai rivers. “We have asked them to build boundary walls along the banks to stop polluting agents from flow into the water. I think they are working on the proposal now,” he added. Subernarekha had been selected for a pollution abatement project under the National River Conservation Programme launched in 1995. The CAG audit last month test-checked four projects being implemented under in Ranchi and Jamshedpur to control pollution in the Subernarekha at a cost of Rs 2.2 crore, but found that intended objectives had not been achieved. Shouldn’t JSPCB slap fines to check river pollution? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com