Govt fines east corp trucks in east Delhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi environment minister Imran Hussain conducted a surprise inspection of vehicles entering Delhi through the Delhi-uttar Pradesh border from Ghazipur on Friday night.

During the inspection, at least 10 trucks of East Delhi Municipal Corporation were found to be violating green norms, read a statement from the minister’s office.

The minister said he has ordered the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) to issue a showcause notice and levy a penalty of ₹5 lakh on the municipal corporation for allegedly violating the Solid Waste Management Rule 2016. Also, the trucks flouting norms were issued challans.

The trucks going to the Ghazipur landfill site were found to be carrying garbage that hadn’t been covered. Also, the truck drivers engaged by the corporation were not carrying required vehicle documents, it said.

“The trucks were overloaded with garbage, were speeding and waste material was blowing to the roadsides as it was left uncovered. Also, the drivers could not produce any required documents on the spot,” the minister said.

However, a senior east corporation official, said, “We do not have any knowledge of the penalty or a notice being issued, as we have not received any communication yet. Moreover, if challans were served to our drivers, we have not received those either. The team had visited the Ghazipur landfill and it did not find any discrepancy on the site.” The inspection was carried out between 11:30 pm and 2 am.

The drive was intended to check measures being taken by transport department’s enforcement teams deployed at all city borders against non-destined trucks and those flouting norms causing air pollution.