HÀ NỘI – City authorities have ordered an investigation into allegations of illegal waste dumping in the Red River, reported by Giao thông vận tải Magazine (Transportation Magazine).

On receiving the reports, Chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee Nguyễn Đức 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 Hà Nội port to dump into the Red River – the section that passes through Thanh Trì Bridge in Hoàng 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 Hà Nội Police to report their findings to the People’s Committee before December 5 and will make these findings available to the press.

Dương Văn Hoà, Chairman of the Thanh Trì Ward People’s Committee, under Hoàng Mai District, has confirmed the act of illegal waste dumping committed by the P.T0677 ship, Hà Nội Mới 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 Hà Nội Police.

Hoà 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