Scrap dealers will move Supreme Court for designated space

Terming the crackdown as “illegal”, traders said they were staging a protest against the penalty notices issued by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) when the team of officials started sealing their units.

Scrap merchants in west Delhi’s Mayapuri Industrial Area Phase-2 have decided to approach the Supreme Court, demanding designated ‘disposal units’ for carrying out their scrapping business.

Scrap dealers will move Supreme Court for designated space (Amal KS/HT PHOTO)

The decision came following a crackdown by government agencies in the industrial area on Saturday.

Terming the crackdown as “illegal”, traders said they were staging a protest against the penalty notices issued by the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) when the team of officials started sealing their units.

A delegation of traders also met deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Saturday evening.

On April 11, the National Green Tribunal had slammed the Delhi government for not acting against illegal scrap industries in Mayapuri that cause pollution, which prompted the sealing drive by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and other agencies on Saturday.

A bench headed by NGT chairperson justice Adarsh Kumar Goel had directed the chief secretary and the chairman and member secretary of the DPCC to respond as to why they should not be jailed for their failure to stop the illegal activities.

The green court had also ordered the officials to appear before it on May 3 with a compliance report.

“We have decided to appeal to the Supreme Court to grant us our long-pending demand of designated slots, such as godowns, for carrying out scrapping activity. When we were relocated to the area in 1975, there was no residential population there. Later, when people started settling there, and began complaining of pollution, we asked the government to earmark land where we can carry out our business,” Harbansh Singh Alagh, president, Association of Scrap Merchants, Mayapuri, said.

According to scrap dealers, the units started receiving notices by the DPCC for levying a penalty of ₹1 lakh as environment damage charges for more than a week now. On April 10, the DPCC had released a statement that it has issued notices to 765 scrap units in Mayapuri

“As per the notice, we had to deposit the fine amount within 15 days. They should have first allotted adequate place to dealers and then started taking action,” he said.

The DPCC, in a report submitted to the NGT in March this year, had stated that “poisonous fumes were emitted from the scrapping units.”

Anumita Roychowdhury, research and advocacy head of Centre and Science Environment (CSE), said, “Both the formal and informal sectors should come under scrutiny and monitoring. Safe disposal of hazardous material from the automobiles is the urgent requirement. The government must intervene to provide them dedicated units for
storing and disposing of such material.”