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Laundry owner booked for polluting Pavana river
The complaint, filed by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation environment department, health inspector, Amol Gorkhe, has been registered at Wakad police station
A laundry owner from Tathawade was booked on Friday for allegedly discharging untreated contaminated water in the Pavana river.
The complaint, filed by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) environment department, health inspector, Amol Gorkhe, has been registered at Wakad police station.
The accused has been identified as Abhishek Tankariya, owner of 24 Klein (Ms Kleinfab Services LLP).
The PCMC team was investigating the massive layer of toxic foam that was observed on the Pavana river near Kejudevi temple in Thergaon on Thursday (2). During the inspection, Tankariya was found discharging contaminated and untreated water from washed clothes directly into the river.
SD Naiknimbalkar, sub-inspector, attached to Wakad police station, informed that the complaint has been filed by the PCMC staff against the accused for violating environmental norms and releasing untreated water in the river.
“We have booked the accused under section 278 (voluntarily vitiates the atmosphere in any place so as to make it noxious to the health of persons) of Indian Penal Code(IPC), section 15 (whoever fails to comply with or contravenes any of the provisions of this Act) of Environment Protection Act, 1986, section 24 (prohibition on use of stream or well for disposal of polluting matter, etc) of water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act.
HT had reported in a news report titled ‘Residents concerned about the thick layer of foam on Pavana River’ on November 3, about the thick layer of (toxic) foam seen on the Pavana river near Kejudevi temple in Thergaon.
Following the incident, the PCMC and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) swung into action. The MPCB has also visited the location and taken water samples for analysis.
Sanjay Kulkarni, head of the environment department, PCMC, said following the complaints received from the citizens the team was sent to investigate the issue.
“During this we found the untreated contaminated water from washed clothes was being directly inside the river by the accused. Phosphates in the detergents lead to foaming. This salt present in detergent helps the freshwater algal blooms that release toxins and affect oxygen in waterways,” he said.
