Customs dept sleuths blow lid off dump in India racket

Posted on January 11, 2020, Source: The Times of India

Rajkot: India, which is already battling mounds of garbage, is becoming a dumping ground for solid municipal waste generated by developed countries.The customs department has blown the lid off a sinister racket of garbage generated in US and Europe being imported under the garb of paper waste in India. The special intelligence and investigation branch of the department has seized 300 containers, which contained nearly 3,000 tonnes filth, at Mundra port.

In the last 10 days, the sleuths checked nearly 1,000 containers of which 300 were seized. The importers of these containers had declared paper waste in their bill of entry.

“This garbage was sent from developed countries like the US and those in Europe. The import of solid municipal waste is banned, but this was being imported in the guise of waste paper,” sources in the customs department told TOI.

Officials said most importers are from Rajkot and Morbi districts and they were getting handsome incentives for accepting the waste. Officials said the waste contained huge quantity of plastic and other household trash like diapers. If dumped in India, it poses a great threat of an epidemic and possibility of radioactive substance being sent is also not ruled out.

These containers were rejected by Indonesia customs last year and they were re-routed to India, which generates nearly 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of solid waste daily. Of this, just about 20% is processed.

Primary investigation revealed that there is a syndicate in developed countries, which are giving hefty incentives to the importers from developing countries just to dump their waste. There are over 20 importers from Rajkot and Morbi and some from Punjab and Delhi.

The customs department has also informed the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), which is the licensing authority for waste paper import. The union ministry of environment and forest has also issued office memorandums (OM) defining the kind of waste paper can be imported in India, under this OM this municipal waste is illegal.” said a top official of customs.

“We will also issue showcause notices to the importers seeking explanation for misdeclaration and importing prohibited goods. The process of re-exporting these containers to the countries of origin will also be initiated,” a senior official said.