Thane court orders imprisonment sentence for 4 officers ..

Erin Brockovich may not quite be here, but a Thane court order has got greens grinning from ear to ear. Four officials of the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation have been sentenced to two years’ simple imprisonment for their apathy in checking the flow of pollutants into the Vasai Creek.

In perhaps the first time that the new anti-pollution law has been used for prosecution, Thane chief judicial magistrate S M Bhosale found VVMC deputy municipal commissioners Govind Pawar, Vilas Dhage, Devidas Tekhale and Maruti Kodke guilty of dereliction of duty. He also held them responsible for the civic agency’s failure to set up a sewage treatment plant in the taluka.

The four prosecuted officers were then heading the unmerged municipal councils of Vasai, Navghar-Manikpur, Nallasopara and Virar.

The MPCB has filed a number of cases against polluting industries. But this is the first time that a case has been made against public officials.