NEW DELHI: The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) on Thursday conducted a sealing drive in the Mayapuri scrap market in West Delhi and sealed 12 factories. According to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, the factories were engaged in industrial activities such as electroplating, pickling, galvanizing, phosphating and dyeing. At least 102 notices had been served to “polluting” factories in C, E, W and F blocks of the market in the last seven days.
The sealing comes after a unit-wise survey in May by the agency, under the Delhi government, found the units “operating without consent.” It was done under an order of the National Green Tribunal dated October 23, 2018 that asked the authorities to shut all “illegally and unauthorisedly operating scrap factories in Mayapuri generating chemicals, oils and poisonous fumes.”
Neeraj Sehgal, secretary of the Mayapuri Industrial Area Welfare Association, said that the traders had submitted Ra 4 lakh each as environmental damages to the DPCC after notices of closure were served on Friday. “And yet, today, around 10-12 officers from the local SDM (Sub-divisional Magistrate) office, three persons from DPCC and about 50 police personnel landed here and sealed 12 factories,” he added. The market had seen clashes between the traders and police personnel accompanying a sealing team on April 13.