26 metal scrap melting units causing pollution bulldozed in Ghaziabad

Twenty-six illegal furnaces causing air pollution were bulldozed in Loni town of Ghaziabad on Thursday, taking the number of such units which faced similar action to 30 within a week, officials said.

Joint teams of the district administration, Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) and the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) were constituted last week in compliance of a letter dated September 3 sent by the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas.

District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh said stringent 26 illegal furnaces were identified and bulldozed on Thursday.

Another four illegal furnaces were bulldozed within a couple of days.

All these illegal units were melting metal scrap and making ingots due to which air quality was deteriorating day by day.

The officials have been instructed to keep a watch on these illegal furnaces so that the owners may not operate them even in the future, the DM said. He said the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation has demolished illegal milk dairies on the Delhi-Meerut road because bovines cannot be kept in the city. Dairies are allowed only in the villages for the purpose of supplying milk.

Meanwhile, Regional officer of UPPCB, Utsav Sharma, said a report would be submitted fortnightly before the Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas.