Congo nATIonAL MurdEr: 1 HELd
Acting on stern directions from the Public Grievance Commission (PGC), the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Delhi Police and the local SDM have started cracking down on polluting industries in Mandoli here.
According to the Action Taken Report (ATR) filed by the SDM (Seemapuri) to the PGC on 10 May, a total of 11 polluting industries/factories have been sealed in the area during surveys conducted recently. The SDM, DPCC and the Delhi Police had also issued 31 challans to offenders for burning garbage, leaves, plastic, rubber, etc in a joint action.
The severe pollution in the area was highlighted by complainant Amarjeet, a resident of Ganga Sahay Colony, Mandoli. In his complaint to the PGC on 20 November 2015, he said, “The industries in the Mandoli Industrial Area have been releasing toxic fumes into the environment. The density of fumes starts increasing as the day progresses, creating a thick blanket of smog enveloping the area of over 6 sq km, and causing health hazards for lakhs of residents of the area.”
The complainant had also mentioned that his repeated complaints to the DPCC, Department of Environment (Govt of NCT Delhi), Deputy Commissioner, Factory Licencing (FL) Department, and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation went unanswered, which made him file a complaint with the PGC.
Taking cognizance of the matter, N. Dilip Kumar, member, PGC, in his first hearing in December last year asked the DPCC to take the lead in coordinating the matter with the MCD, local police and the SDM of the area. However, the commission was not satisfied with the survey done and the action taken by the special committee formed by it and thus had asked in its second hearing to register criminal cases against the polluting units. As per the surveys of the DPCC, there exist 173 polluting units in the Mandoli Industrial Area.
Dilip Kumar had said during the hearing, “Urgent action needs to be taken to solve the problem of pollution in the area. Evidence of pollution being caused by the industries needs to be collected and criminal cases should be registered and arrests made. The local DCP should form teams to crack down on the polluting industries. Electricity and water supply to the polluting units should be cut and cases should be booked by the DPCC immediately.”
Following this, a joint team cracked down on the polluting industries in the area, sealing several of them. The commission has advised the Secretary, DPCC, to organise surprise checks occasionally to ensure that the impact of the crackdown is not lost. The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested one person and identified two more accused in a suspected racial attack that resulted in the murder of a 23-year-old African national on Friday. The deceased, identified as Masonda Ketada Olivier, was a native of Congo, who was murdered by a group of three men after a street brawl at Kishangarh near a CNG petrol pump on Friday.
“A PCR call was received around 11.44 pm regarding a quarrel with an Afri- can national. By the time the local police reached the spot, the victim had already been taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre by the PCR van where he was declared brought dead,” police said.
Investigation has revealed that three men identified as Mobin Azad Saifi (23), Mukesh and Prakash aka Musa were mercilessly beating Olivier, when some passersby tried to save the victim, but they were also roughed up by the assailants. According to the police, the victim had come to visit his friend in Kishangarh.
The police said, “The de- ceased was heading to his rented apartment in South Extension and was trying to hire an auto. The quarrel started when the accused men demanded to hire the same auto that resulted in a serious brawl.” Investigation has revealed that the victim was attacked by a stone on his head that led to profuse bleeding. “One of the accused persons, Mobin has been arrested and the two other accused persons have been identified. Various police teams have been dispatched to arrest the other two culprits at the earliest,” police said. The Sunday Guardian published a report CBI ‘sits on’ allegations against Praful Patel in Air India matter last Sunday, 15 May, for which a response was sought by the newspaper from the former Civil Aviation Minister’s office. The response was received on Monday evening, that is on 16 May. In an email, Praful Patel’s secretary, Champa Bharatwaj, wrote that “The matter referred to by yourself, is totally untrue and seems to be a matter of impersonation. Enclosed herewith are copies of two letters which are self-explanatory.” Two letters were received as attachments. One of them is a copy of a letter that the then Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel wrote to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 31 January 2012, stating that all allegations made against him in a bribery case lodged in Canada involving the supply of facial recognition software for Air India by a Canadian