Team Herald
MARGAO: A scrap yard operating illegally in the SGPDA parking lot near the vegetable market for over a year came to light on Thursday with the arrest of the shed owner Ram Kumar Nisha (28) and his worker Umesh Kumar (16) following the recovery of a steel sump cover. The SGPDA officials however claimed they had no knowledge of the scrapyard existing in their property
The duo was charged under Section 379 read with Section 34 of IPC.
The shopkeepers of Block A and B in Osia complex where shocked to find 8 sq feet steel cover of a sump missing on Thursday morning.
After a thorough search, the shopkeepers found the lid at an abandoned composting unit shed near the vegetable and fish market. To their surprise, some person was using the shed as a scrapyard as sacks of plastic bottles, cardboard boxes, three bikes, a cycle and broken TV were found inside. The shopkeepers asked the worker in the scrapyard for cancelled RC book of the bikes but he failed to produce it.
The man claimed that one of their workers had brought the steel lid at night. However, shopkeepers refused to buy his claim as the lid is too heavy for a man to lift.
The shopkeepers called the police and filed a complaint. The shed owner Ram Kumar Nisha and his worker Umesh Kumar were arrested.
Interestingly, the SGPDA Member Secretary Ashok Kumar claimed that they have not given any permission to operate a scrapyard and that they are not aware of it.
He assured to file a complaint against the operator on Friday.
The SGPDA market vegetable and fruit vendors informed that the scrapyard has been operating for many months and it is unlikely that the SGPDA market inspector was unaware. They even claimed that one or two people sleep in the yard at night. This was evident since clothes were hanging inside the shed.
