Learning of the deadly fire incident that took place at a sparkling candle manufacturing unit in Talawade on December 8, the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) took a suo motu action and registered a case based on media reports. The case was not registered against any particular authority, however, the NGT made the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) a party to submit. The Tribunal on December 28 instructed MPCB to submit a report on this on January 12, however, the hearing was postponed till Monday, January 15.
In their report on December 9, Y P Patange, Deputy Director, of Industrial Safety and Health (DISH) highlighted that the unit was located in the red zone of the defence department and at Talawade village in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) area and was engaged in manufacturing sparkling candles by mixing and filling process. The raw materials used were explosive.
After this incident, while MPCB issued a closure notice, DISH also banned the factory unit until the norms were complied with.
A senior official from MPCB on the condition of anonymity said, “ As per the available information, it is clear that the manufacturing unit did not obtain any permission from both MPCB and DISH, hence both the authorities will not be directly held responsible for this.”
Speaking about the further procedure on the Suo Motu case, advocate Anirudh Kulkarni, standing council of NGT for Maharashtra, said,” The principal NGT after the hearing will scrutinise the case as per the technical details and then transfer it to the concerned zonal bench for further proceedings.”
{{/usCountry}}Speaking about the further procedure on the Suo Motu case, advocate Anirudh Kulkarni, standing council of NGT for Maharashtra, said,” The principal NGT after the hearing will scrutinise the case as per the technical details and then transfer it to the concerned zonal bench for further proceedings.”
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