TWO NIGERIANS ARRESTED WITH DRUGS WORTH ₹15.15 LAKH

NAVIMUMBAI: TwoNigerianswere recently arrested for possessing drugs worth ~15.15 lakh. The accused were living here on a fake visa.

The anti-narcotics cell of the Navi Mumbai crime branch arrested Kenneth Simon Kezi, 28, from Kharghar, for possessing 52 grams of amphetamine in powdered form, worth ~2.8 lakh. Police said they had received a tip-off that Kezi would come theretosellthe drugs, whenthey were looking for him on Thursday evening.

During interrogation, Kezi revealed that he had procured the drugs from Nomeinan Dozi Isikerial, 44. The police team raided Isikerial’s house located near Kopri village.

“During the raid we found drugs including 107 grams of mescaline powder worth ~5.35 lakh and 100 MDMA tablets worth ~7 lakh. The accused have been remanded in custody till January3,”saidRavindraBudhwant, senior inspector at the ANC unit.

Police said they have been alert ahead of the New Year’s Eveasdrugpeddlers arelikely to sell MDMA tablets which are party drugs.

While police have also recovered a laptop and visa from the accused, sources said the passport office has informed them that the visa is fake. They are investigating into the authenticity of the same as well. Only after the investigations, police will be able to say for how long the duo has been staying in Navi Mumbai.

KALYAN: The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) does not maintain a field visit notebook, a field data protocol or even a result sheet after sampling water from the Ulhas river, reveals a Right to Information (RTI) query on the river’s water monitoring system.

As per guidelines by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for water monitoring, the three records are needed to monitor the water quality. However, the MPCB is not following the guidelines, said activists.

As per the CPCB, a field visit notebook contains a list of items which should be checked before startingona samplingmission; a field data protocol is a form where details of the sampling exercise and site analysis can be filled, and result sheets, containing analytical results, have to be sent with each series of sample containers being sent to the analytical laboratory.

“The pollution board should fill all these forms as they are a crucial part of the monitoring process. The forms will have details of the water sample collected. The RTI query put up by me reveals that the pollution board does not maintain any such forms or records,” said Ravindra Lingayat, founder of UlhasriverBachaoKrutiSamiti.

When the RTI plea asked MPCBtoproducerecordsoffield visit notebooks maintained for four sampling stations between January to November this year, the board said no such notebook was filled at the sampling stations.

To another query for furnishing details of records maintained for field data protocol form, the board replied no such form was filled.

MPCB also revealed that no result sheet was maintained when the sample was sent for testing.

“The MPCB website claims that the water quality is excellent at the four samplingstations of Ulhasnagar. Don’t know how the results are good because officials are not doing the monitoring work effectively. People living around the Ulhas river know that the water is polluted. Only the pollution control board claims that the water quality is good,” added Lingayat.

Theactivistsalsoclaimedthat the pollution control board collects samples for monitoring only from four regular spots of the Ulhas river, and not from those spots where the river is actually polluted.

The four spots are Kalyan creek near Durgadi bridge in Kalyan (West), Jambul stream, Badlapur and NRC bund.

“Ulhas river which crosses different cities is polluted at various points due to sewage disposal, industrial waste, jeans washing and other activities.

Officials should collect samples from all such areas to get proper results,” added Lingayat.

Members of the Ulhas river Bachao Kruti Samiti have also threatened to protest against the lackadaisical approach of the pollution board by gifting the water from the river to the family members of the MPCB officials.

RegionalofficerofMPCB, KalyanShankarWaghmarewasnot available for comment.

AnofficerfromMPCB,oncondition of anonymity, said, “Water monitoring is done following all the basic guidelines by the CPCB. If there is any flaw in the process, the CPCB will take action against MPCB. The sampling and test details are sent to the central body for records.”

Earlier, a report from the Thane district public health laboratory in April revealed that the Waldhuni and Ulhas rivers are highly polluted and their water is unfit for drinking.

In thereport, itwasstated that turbidity, chlorides, hardness and dissolved solids were many times above the safety standards while the pH level was acidic. The river water has chemicals and needs to be critically analysed, added the report.

Ulhas river supplies drinking water to more than 30 lakh residentsinUlhasnagar, Thane, Kalyan, Badlapur and Dombivli.

› During the raid, we found drugs including 107 grams of mescaline powder worth ~5.35 lakh and 100 MDMA tablets worth ~7 lakh. The accused were remanded in custody till January 3. RAVINDRA BUDHWANT, senior inspector, ANC, Navi Mumbai