PANJIM: The State Government on Monday informed the Legislative Assembly that there is no proposal before them to transfer the ownership of the M/s Syngenta India Ltd unit to M/s Deccan Fine Chemical in Corlim village.
Industries Minister Mahadev Naik assured the House that the government will take all necessary precautions to ensure that Syngenta doesn’t transfer the land or unit ownership to any hazardous industry in the area and all the decisions in that regard would be taken in accordance with law.
“The Government is yet to receive any such transfer of ownership proposal and so also the other concerned authorities including the Panchayat are required to examine and decide such proposals in accordance with the law,” the Minister said, replying to a calling attention motion moved by Congress MLA Pandurang Madkaikar.
Madkaikar said that there is complete opposition from the villagers for the Syngenta India Ltd move to allegedly sell its property to a ‘highly polluting industry’ that manufactures hazardous chemicals. He said that as per newspaper reports, the Deccan Fine Chemical is a tainted company.
“Since the company deals with chemicals, the people of the area are not satisfied with safety measures. The area is thickly populated and surrounded by many primary schools,” the MLA said.
The Congress legislator pointed out that the State government had in 1969 handed over 7.50lakh sq mtrs of area to CIBA, with a condition that if the unit does not want to continue the same land should be handed over to government. “However, CIBA transferred the land to Syngenta, who in turn now wants to transfer it to Deccan Fine Chemical,” Madkaikar informed the House.
He was supported by deputy speaker Vishnu Wagh and Congress legislator Mauvin Godinho who appealed to the government to ensure the safety of people by restricting hazardous chemical industries in the area.
