MPT Chairman I Jeyakumar has claimed that the proposed Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) berth location is far away from the Vasco town and MPT will go ahead with the project only after the approval from Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur.
“In no way will the POL berth affect people. Under our new proposed plan, we are only shifting our existing POL handling jetty from Berth No 8 to Vasco bay. Once Berth No 8 is cleared, we will use this berth to handle granite, container etc. Secondly, we have already submitted the details of POL berth for the approval before Chief Controller of Explosives, Nagpur. They will study the impact and measures taken and after taking all aspects into consideration, if we get approval only then we will go ahead otherwise we will not,” Jeyakumar informed. He said, “The existing oil tanks in Vasco are closer to the town while the POL berths will be 500 metres away from the oil tanks and inside the water and thus there will not be any threat to people. If there is any safety lapse in the plan then Chief Controller of Explosives will not give its approval and hence people need not to worry as we will be handling the existing cargo only at the new berth and will not jeopardise the fishing jetty. Another thing is that since we are waiting for approval from Chief Controller of Explosives in future we may or may not handle oil cargo at new berth. Another important point is that our present POL berth has been operating since 1978 and in last four decades no incident or mishap has been reported, which otherwise means that we do take full safety precautions,” he said.
“Secondly, for the fishing harbour and passenger jetty, we had signed MoU on December 22, 2016. As commitment, we will build the jetty, plus at same site we will have a provision for passenger ferry services. By doing this, the entire approach road via TB Cunha Chowk and other entire area will get a facelift. With regards to canoe owners, we will not encroach upon their operational area. Whatever they wanted in the project we had agreed, but before signing MoU they backed out. Canoe owners went against us on the dredging issue. However, despite this we are still ready to accommodate their demands if any,” he added.
