Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has granted South West Port Limited (SWPL) another two weeks to reply to the show cause notice following directions from the High Court. SWPL has to now reply to the notice by December 28, 2017.
The Board has also asked SWPL to furnish a bank guarantee of Rs 1 crore towards the cost of special pollution suppression measures required to contain the fall out of exceeded evaluation and output beyond the permitted capacity of 4.125 MMT/A. The board said that the date of personal hearing will be intimidated to SWPL after its reply is received.
GSPCB on November 30 had issued the notice for violation of conditions stipulated in the Consent to Operate given to SWPL. The notice was answerable by December 6 and the board meeting was scheduled on December 7.
However, SWPL had approached the High Court of Bombay at Goa contending that the time given by the board was not enough to compile the required data.
“If any order is passed against the Petitioner (SWPL) by the Respondent Board, it shall not be given effect till the next date assigned to this Petition,” court had stated.
The Board in the notice had warned of taking stringent legal action that could include revocation of the renewed Consent to Operate granted under Air and Water Act on July 21, 2017, forfeiting Rs 5 lakh bank guarantee along with directions for suspension or closure of all the cargo handling operations.
The Board pointed out that the Consent to Operate granted to SWPL was to handle 4.125 MMT of coal, one MMT of limestone and steel slab annually. However, data submitted by MPT regarding berth traffic handled position from April 2016 to March 2017, revealed that SWPL handled 10.112 MMT of coal for the year, which was in excess of the permitted amount.
