VietNamNet Bridge – City authorities have ordered an investigation into allegations of illegal waste dumping in the Red River, reported by Giao thong van tai Magazine (Transportation Magazine).

The P.T0677 ship is allegedly dumping waste into the Red River – Photo Transportation Magazine.

On receiving the reports, Chairman of Ha Noi People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung yesterday asked the director of the city’s Department of Public Security to investigate and administer appropriate penalties and fines to the owner of the ship P.T0677 in line with existing laws should any violation be found. Any involved parties, individual or collective, will be held accountable.

It was reported that on Monday a ship with licence plate P.T0677 had carried hundreds of tonnes of waste from Ha Noi Port to dump into the Red River – the section that passes through Thanh Tri Bridge in Hoang Mai District.

Later, a three-member task force wearing Waterway Police uniforms (of Inspection Unit No 3) approached the ship in a specialised canoe, but the ship continued to dump waste into the river.

Chairman Chung asked Ha Noi Police to report their findings to the People’s Committee before December 5 and will make these findings available to the press.

Duong Van Hoa, Chairman of the Thanh Tri Ward People’s Committee, under Hoang Mai District, has confirmed the act of illegal waste dumping committed by the P.T0677 ship, Ha Noi Moi newspaper (New Hanoi) reported.

On being notified by the locals, the ward’s authorities dispatched police to the site, but the ship was gone. It was later stopped by Inspection Unit No 3, working under the Ha Noi Police.

Hoa added that even though the illegal dumping had taken place in the ward’s jurisdiction, the ward’s authorities were not authorised to conduct an inspection of the river.

VNS