Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa Foundation has criticised Goa State Pollution Control Board for taking lenient action against South West Port Ltd while also demanding criminal action against the company’s directors.
In a statement issued on Monday, Goa Foundation Director Claude Alvares said it was shocking to read that the Board has issued a show cause notice under Section 31 (A) of the Air Pollution Control Act 1981 and Section 33 (A) of the Water Act, 1974.
“These sections are emergency provisions. They have been inserted in both Acts in the wake of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy of 1984. The sections enable the Board to issue directions to any party to forthwith close down operations without show cause. Predictably, the Goa Board has issued the usual show cause notice, which is not at all contemplated under the relevant sections,” he said.
Alvares further stated that the Board is also empowered to use Section 5 of the EPA 1986 to issue similar directions which it has, for reasons not obvious, refused to do.
He said the information provided by the Board to the media pertains to extremely serious violations of the consent orders issued under the Air and Water Acts to SWPL. Permitted to handle and transport 4.12 MMT, the SWPL transported an additional 5.98 million metric tonnes. “This is simply unbelievable as a violation. Immediate action ought to have been taken by the Board on cognisance. The transport of the additional amounts (more than double the permitted quantities) would have led to much higher pollution load and difficulties for citizens,” the release mentions.
Alvares has demanded that MPT’s role should also be examined. “Was MPT not aware that the consent terms imposed limits on coal handling by South West Port Ltd (SWPL)? Since the violations of the consents of both laws has been established beyond doubt, the Board has no alternative but to shut down operations of SWPL at MPT and to file criminal charges against the company’s directors under Sections 37-40 of the Air Act and similar provisions under the Water Act,” he stated.
