PCMC to Pudumjee — Why shouldn’t your licence be cancelled?

Municipal Commissioner B I Nagrale, along with senior civic officials of the medical and health department inspected the nullah carrying the effluent.

Nagrale while speaking to newspersons said that it was a matter of serious concern that the river water had turned red because of the release of the effluent. Nagrale, who held a meeting with the officials of the mill, said that the mill has been warned to take strict precautions regarding releasing of the effluents. The PCMC officials also collected the samples of the effluents and sent it to the government laboratory for analysis.

Already a show-cause notice was being issued to the mill asking why their industrial licence should not be cancelled, Nagrale said, asserting that the action of issuing notice should not be considered as a mere formality. The PCMC will take serious action against the industries and not tolerate any incident which has the potential to cause any harm to the citizens, he said.

The PCMC will be preparing a report shortly in which the findings of the sample analysis besides the past similar incidences and the explanations then given by the mill will be recorded. Nagrale said that the mill officials maintained that the effluent did not contain any poisonous or harmful matter. It was due to the colour of the paper produced that the effluent had turned red, the officials told the commissioner.

Local corporator Shreerang Barne and opposition leader Amrut Parhad also accompanied the civic officials during the inspection. Parhad in a letter submitted to the commissioner charged that the PCMC had failed to take any action against the industries causing pollution despite serious incidents in the past. He recalled the two incidents which occured last year when a large number of fish were found dead in the river.