Mayapuri is an industrial locality in

West Delhi West Delhi is one of the 11 administrative districts of the National Capital Territory of Delhi in India. Administratively, the district is divided into three subdivisions, Patel Nagar, Rajouri Garden and Punjabi Bagh. West Delhi is bound by ...

. It used to be a major hub of heavy metal and small scale industries, but following recent government sanctions, most of the heavy metal industries moved out. The place is now a combination of residential area, light metal factories, scrap markets, and automobile service stations. In 2010, a major radiation accident took place in the scrap yards of Mayapuri. There are some famous landmarks in the area like the Food Corporation of India, Metal Forging and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital. The area is connected with Delhi Metro by Mayapuri station. Mayapuri is also one of the major bus terminals for the

Delhi Transport Corporation Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) is the main public transport operator of Delhi. It is the largest CNG-powered bus service operator in the world. History The Delhi Transport Corporation was incorporated in May 1948 by the Indian governme ...

(DTC).

2010 Mayapuri radiological accident

In the early April of 2010, Mayapuri was affected by a serious radiological accident. An

AECL Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...

Gammacell 220 research

irradiator Irradiation is the process by which an object is exposed to radiation. The exposure can originate from various sources, including natural sources. Most frequently the term refers to ionizing radiation, and to a level of radiation that will ser ...

owned by

Delhi University Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...

since 1968, but unused since 1985, was negligently sold at an auction to a scrap metal dealer in Mayapuri on 26 February 2010. The orphan source arrived at the

scrap yard Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

in Mayapuri during March, where it was dismantled by workers unaware of the hazardous nature of the device. The

cobalt-60 Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisoto ...

source was cut into eleven pieces. The smallest of the fragments was taken by Ajay Jain, one of the dealers, who kept it in his wallet; two fragments were moved to a nearby shop; and the remaining eight remained in the scrap yard. Eight people were hospitalized in

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, also known as AIIMS Delhi, is a public medical research university and hospital in New Delhi, India. The institute is governed by the AIIMS Act, 1956 and operates autonomously under the Mini ...

for radiation injuries, where one later died due to multi-organ failure. Police cordoned off the market and all ten ⁶⁰Co sources were recovered by

Atomic Energy Regulatory Board The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) was constituted on 15 November 1983 by the President of India by exercising the powers conferred by Section 27 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) to carry out certain regulatory and safety func ...

in mid-April and were transported to

Narora Atomic Power Station Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) is a nuclear power plant located in Narora, Dibai Tehsil, Bulandshahar District in Uttar Pradesh, India. Reactors The plant houses two reactors, each a pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) capable of ...

, where it was claimed that all radioactive material originally contained within the device was accounted for. The material remains in the custody of the

Department of Atomic Energy The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) (IAST: ''Paramāṇu Ūrjā Vibhāga'') is a department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. DAE was established in 1954 by a Presidential Order. DAE has been engaged in the development of nucl ...

The event was rated level 4 out of 7 on the

International Nuclear Events Scale The International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES) was introduced in 1990 by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in order to enable prompt communication of safety significant information in case of nuclear accidents. The sc ...

. After the incident, AERB organized many awareness drives for Mayapuri scrap dealers broadly on the safety, legal and regulatory aspects while handling and disposal of radioactive materials. A year later,

Delhi Police The Delhi Police (DP) is the law enforcement agency for the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). Delhi Police comes under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Government of India. In 2015, sanctioned strength of Delhi ...

charged six

chemistry professors for negligent disposal of the radioactive device.

Metal recycling industry

One of the main businesses in Mayapuri is the recycling of metal scraps and sale of salvage vehicle parts. It is, arguably, the biggest market for used automotive and industrial spare parts in India. Many traders from all over India come here to sell or purchase old auto parts. Many small workshops specialised in different metals are active in the Mayapuri area. The safety of the

s became a concern after the radiological accident which occurred in April 2010. The area is not equipped with

radiation detector In experimental and applied particle physics, nuclear physics, and nuclear engineering, a particle detector, also known as a radiation detector, is a device used to detect, track, and/or identify ionizing particles, such as those produced by nu ...

s or portals, despite being standard equipment in scrap yards and recycling facilities in the US and most European countries. The presence of toxic

heavy metals upright=1.2, Crystals of osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">lead.html" ;"title="osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead">osmium, a heavy metal nearly twice as dense as lead Heavy metals are generally defined as ...

and harmful chemicals in the waste generated by these activities threaten the health of several thousands of people living in the area.

Major landmarks

Mayapuri is home to the following key landmarks: *

New Era Public School New Era Public School, is a school in Mayapuri, New Delhi, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the mos ...

- popular school * Metal Forging - one of the oldest forging units *

Food Corporation of India Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ...

- government organization * India International Marketing Company * Swarg Ashram Mandir - temple

Surrounding areas

Rajouri Garden Rajouri Garden is a market and residential neighbourhood in West Delhi, India. The Main Market and Nehru Market are the key markets of the area. The population is largely Punjabi who migrated to Delhi, following the Partition of India, from Paki ...

Naraina Vihar Naraina Vihar is a residential locality in South West Delhi. It is composed of flats built by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and privately built houses. The neighborhood is connected with Delhi Metro by Naraina Vihar station. Naraina A ...

Hari Nagar Hari Nagar Assembly constituency is one of the 70 Delhi Legislative Assembly constituencies of the National Capital Territory in northern India. Overview Present geographical structure of Hari Nagar constituency came into existence in 2008 as ...

* Tilak Nagar * Delhi Cantt * Kirti Nagar

References

External links