Scrap dealer booked for illegally storing hazardous industrial waste

Police have registered an offence against a scrap dealer in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtras Thane for allegedly storing hazardous industrial waste without permission, an official said on Wednesday.

Police have registered an offence against a scrap dealer in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane for allegedly storing hazardous industrial waste without permission, an official said on Wednesday. An official of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) lodged a complaint against the scrap dealer, he said.

The MPCB official was returning after attending a meeting when he noticed the hazardous industrial waste stored in a godown as well as in an open place at Kausa, he said.

''While 15 tonnes of waste was stored in the open ground, five other tonnes of it was kept in the godown,'' the police official said. The accused, Mohmmmad Arif Altaf Hussain Khan, had procured the waste and despite knowing very well that it was harmful to humans and hazardous to the environment, he stored it without following the norms, the police said. An offence under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 336 (rash or negligent act), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life), 278 (making atmosphere noxious to health) and 284 (negligent conduct with respect to poisonous substance), and under sections of the Environmental Protection Act was registered against the scrap dealer, they said.