SHWETA KAMAT
shweta@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Jindal South West Port Ltd (SWPL) has handled excess amount of coal to a whopping 15.88 million tonnes from 2012-13 till November 2017 in violation of conditions stipulated in the Consent to Operate issued to them under the Air and Water (prevention and control of pollution) Acts.
SWPL commenced handling coal/coke at Berth no. 6A in 2003-2004. It was initially handling 1.476 million tonnes of coal, which went up to 10.11 million tonnes in 2016-17, an almost ten times increase in coal handling in a decade
Following complaints from Vasco residents and observations that revealed high pollution levels, Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) granted consent to SWPL permitting it to handle 5.5 MMT of coal and coke, 1 million tonnes of limestone and 1 million tonnes of steel at Berth Nos. 5A and 6A respectively in 2012. The consent condition was further reduced to 4.125 million tonnes in 2016-17.
Irrespective of this, data made available by Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) reveals that SWPL handled 47.512 million tonnes of ore from 2012-13 till November 2017, as against the permissible limit of 31.625 million tonnes during the period.
Thus, SWPL was involved in handling 15.887 million tonnes of excess coal in the past six years ending November 2017.
Data reveals that in 2012-13 it exceeded the limit by 1.397 million tonnes, in 2014-15 it increased to 1.959 million tonnes, in 2015-16 it was 4.429 million tonnes and in 2016-17 it was 4.612 million tonnes. During this period the permissible coal handling limit was 5.5 million tonnes.
For the current financial year, which is witnessing much uproar over the pollution caused by the SWPL coal handling facility, the agency handled 5.05 million tonnes of ore as against the permitted capacity of 4.125 million tonnes. The excess coal handled was 0.925 million tonnes.
The Board has already filed a criminal complaint against MPT, SWPL and its concerned officials before the JMFC Vasco under Section 200 CrPC read with Section 43 of the Air Act for violating the provisions of Section 21(5) (v) and 31 (A)(i) punishable under Section 37(i) read with Section 39 of the Air Act.
The complaint has been filed for handling excess coal at Berth no. 5A and 6A at MPT for the year 2012-13, 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 in violation of the consent orders issued by the Board.
