DCM Engineeering Products, a company manufacturing automotive engineering parts, has allegedly made the lives of people residing in three villages situated in the vicinity of its plant miserable by dumping industrial waste recklessly. Heaps of burnt sand lying in streets of these villages have been playing havoc with the health of villagers. The DCM authorities and the Punjab Pollution Control Board, however, feigned ignorance about any such problem. The soil in these villages has turned black due to open dumping of burnt sand, an industrial waste generated at the DCM plant. Premnagar village has virtually turned into an ash pond. At Railmajra, burnt ash dumped in the open enters the homes of villagers whenever a strong wind blows. Banks of Bisht Doab canal have turned black due to burnt sand in Majra Bet village. "The residents have been facing this problem for the past many years," said Surinder Pal Chhinda, Block Samiti member from Rail Majra. "I have sent several representations to the authorities concerned, including the pollution control board, but nothing has been done to control the menace so far," he said. Rail Majra resident Jagpal said the burnt sand dumped in the village had made their life hell. "You cannot keep any eatable or clothes outside because as soon as you did it, a black layer of burnt sand would cover it," he said. Many people in the area had been afflicted with breathing problems for the past couple of years, said Rajinder Singh Saabi, another local resident. Manoj Gupta, the contractor who lifts sand from the DCM factory, said “Sometimes people request us to unload black sand in their fields so that they could fill craters; and we often oblige them," he said. DCM general manager Ajay Chandorkar has promised to look into the matter. Punjab Pollution Control Board XEN Avtar Singh said, "We received a complaint around 6 months ago and things were resolved. Now, I will investigate into the matter again."