In an unusual incident, police in Maharashtra's Jalgaon district raided a mattress-making factory that stuffed its products with discarded masks instead of cotton or other materials.
The police have filed a case against the owner of the unit, and an investigation has been launched. In addition, a large number of masks were discovered on the premises.
According to a report, officials at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) police station in Jalgaon, about 400 kilometres northeast of Mumbai, were informed of the alleged racket at the Maharashtra Mattress Centre.
Additional Superintendent of Police, Mr. Chandrakant Gawali specified that when the officials visited the factory in Kusumba village at MIDC, they discovered a mattress being stuffed with used masks. Following the prescribed procedures, the police set fire to the stacks of used masks strewn around the grounds.
Soon, the case was filed against Amjad Ahmed Mansoori who is the owner of the factory. Mr. Gawali added that his team is desperately seeking the other members of the racket.
Mask production in India has increased significantly since March 2020, according to data from the Central Pollution Control Board. The pandemic has put additional strain on India's already overburdened waste management system. Between June and September 2020, it produced over 18,000 tonnes of Covid-19-related bio-medical waste, including gloves and face masks.
India registered the largest single-day increase in infection cases yesterday, with about 1.68 lakh new cases. There were 63,294 of these in Maharashtra alone, with 349 deaths.
Today was the sixth day in a row that India had registered more than a lakh daily cases.
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