Surprise raid surprises officials!

A good number of officials from the Enforcement Team of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) and the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB), accompanied by the police, visited Kattedan in Rajendranagar circle on Friday.

They called it a surprise raid on plastic bag manufacturing units and shops located in the area.

However, in an anti-climax, the officials ended up being surprised. By the time they reached Kattedan, a majority of the plastic bag manufacturers had shut shop and vanished.

Downed shutters and locked units greeted dozens of GHMC officials led by additional commissioner (health & sanitation) L Vandan Kumar, zonal commissioner (south zone) N Ravi Kumar and deputy municipal commissioner, Rajendranagar Circle, V Srinivas Goud.

Eight assistant medical officers of health (AMOHs) too descended on the Babul Reddy Nagar near Katedan only to find downed shutters.

Sources said some sanitary supervisors, health inspectors and AMOHs might have alerted owners of the manufacturing units and shops well in advance.

At the end of the day, the GHMC could only seal one premises, that of Shiva Polymer Industries for manufacturing plastic carry bags below 40 microns and seized 2 tonnes (2,000 kg) of plastic material besides slapping a penalty of `10,000 on the owner Kashinath.

The officials found that Kashinath hadn’t obtained permission from the Pollution Control Board and police authorities and doesn’t even have trade licence.

By the time the team inspected the area and seized Shiva Polymer Industries, all the other units locked their premises.

The officials said most of the manufacturing units in the area were manufacturing plastic bags which are less than 40 microns and are banned by the government.

They said this type of “surprise inspections” will continue regularly and heavy penalties and closure of industries and shops will go on.