VASCO: Shekhar Khadapkar, ex councillor of Mormugao and his supporters expressed surprised why Urban Development Minister Milind Naik, was objecting to naphtha being stored at Ganesh Banzoplast facility when it was done five times earlier since 2005.
Addressing a press briefing they demanded that thorough inquiry needs to be done to find out who were instrumental behind bringing this vessel to MPT port.
“Initially the cargo was referred to as sludge and now how come Minister Naik is saying now it’s
dangerous Naphtha? Nobody is talking about the inquiry as to who brought this unmanned vessel to MPT. There should be a thorough inquiry from the government’s side to find out who were involved in bringing such an unmanned vessel to MPT port,” Khadapkar said.
Meanwhile, Goa First NGO’s Parshuram Sonurlekar reacting to the news questioned why the Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant had overruled NGO’s letter about storage of cargo into GBL facility.
“If the consent of the GBL gets over on November 30, 2019 and if the consent of GBL was not renewed on December 1, 2019 then on what grounds the cargo is being stored at GBL containers?” Sonurlekar asked.
Sonurlekar concluded by saying that he is with the people of Mormugao and he also does not want the naphtha to be stored in the GBL containers at Bogda.
“We are unable to understand why Naik is protesting over the shifting of Naptha into the GBL facility. These containers can be used for the storage of such volatile cargo and therefore court has given an order to store it. Therefore there is no logic in simply protesting. Most of the people who are protesting are even unaware about the issue completely,” said Suraj Chodankar, a local from Headland Sada at the media briefing.
Sonurlekar further said that his NGO had written a letter on November 15, 2019, to the collector and Goa State Pollution Control Board that the Ganesh Banzoplast Ltd’s consent was expiring on November 30, 2019. As per the site inspection and a GSPCB report, it was mentioned that there were spillages across the GBL facility and this could be a threat to the life of the people.
Sonurlekar said on December 1, 2019, a special council meeting was called out to oppose the shifting of naphtha cargo into the GBL facility. CM Sawant at that time had also said that the Naphtha would be shifted from vessel to vessel.
He further revealed that his NGO had again complained to the concerned authorities not to give consent to the GBL facility. But it was learnt that already around 20 per cent of the naphtha had been transferred into the GBL facility.
