PANJIM: Vani Agro Farms Pvt Ltd has approached Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) seeking an amendment to the existing Consent to Establish granted for setting up of alcohol and brewery industry at Amdai in Sanguem taluka, by allowing them to brew a higher quantity of alcohol.
In a fresh application to GSPCB the company has asked that the quantity of production of extra neutral alcohol listed at 26.50 litres per month be revised to 26.50 kilo litres per month.
Sources said the company has asked for an amendment to the already granted consent to establish under Air and Water Act, by making the necessary changes. “The file is under process,” sources said.
NGO Goa Foundation had last month petitioned GSPCB demanding that the Consent to Establish granted to Vani Agro Farms Pvt Ltd, be withdrawn as the permission may play havoc with pristine environment.
In a letter to GSPCB member secretary, GF director Dr Claude Alvares had pointed out that the consent to establish was granted for production of extra neutral alcohol at 26.50 ltrs per month and impure spirit at 1.50 ltrs per month, but daily quantity of industrial effluent is permissible up to 315 KLD (kilo litres per day), the effluent treatment plant capacity being 550 KLD.
“It appears to us that the consent is wholly defective as the production of 25.50 litres alcohol per month and 1.5 litres of spirit monthly could never produce industrial effluent to the extent of 350 KLD,” Alvares said.
Alvares said that the Board had already, in a resolution, decided to accept the zoning atlas prepared for the State, which does not permit red category industries anywhere in the State. “We would like to know how the present proposal could have been issued when it is contrary to the resolution of the Board,” he said.
“Under such situation, it is obvious that the consent to establish has been issued without application of mind and is on the face of defective or has been issued with the sole purpose of enabling Vani Agro Farms Pvt Ltd to manufacture products at the site in quantities that will play havoc with a pristine environment,” he said.
The project is under severe criticism as it is been widely opposed by the locals from Amdai village.
