Ganesh Benzoplast Ltd is in the eye of a storm after oilleakages from its storage tanks twice in two months.
What is alarming is that the tanks are located in theresidential area at Jetty, Bogda, in Vasco.
But in spite of concerns of safety and security, GaneshBenzoplast Ltd (GBL) has gone ahead and proposed to build two more tanksreportedly for storage of LPG.
Surprisingly the company has begun construction of the tankswithout obtaining the mandatory environment clearances
“GBL has obtained ano objection from the chief controller of explosive, Nagpur and compliance fromthe Oil Industry Safety Directorate. The civil work has been certified by arecognized body to certify civil work for tanks installations,” said Dr MohanGirap, Secretary of State Expert Appraisal Committee.
The MPDA chairman Krishna Salkar said “The company hadobtained NOC for storage of edible oil but they started storing sulphuric acidand furnace oil,” he added.
“GBL initially claimed that the tanks came under MPT’soperational area and therefore did not require permission from the Departmentof Factories and Boiler,” said S M Paranjape, Chief Inspector of Factories andBoilers.
However, physical verification of the tanks suggests that itis outside the port terminal and located in residential areas of Jetty,Mormugao, Paranjape disclosed. “We dragged them to court for violatingFactories Act, when during site inspection it was noticed that GBL had violatedfactories norms,” Paranjape added.
However, it still doesn’t have the all important environmentclearance. The environment clearance to the company has been apparentlydeferred after residents agitated against the storage tanks, Girap disclosed.
“GBL has been acting arbitrarily and had no regard to thelaw of the land. We have issued them a demolition notice,” said
Elton Rodrigues, the GBL in charge in Goa has refuted allcharges against the company and said that people were politicizing the issue.He said some NGO’s had approached them to extort money.
“We have taken all required permissions from allauthorities. We have also applied for EC clearance from GSPCB,” Rodrigues said.
He further said that only two tanks are in operation at themoment and once LPG tanks were installed the company would deploy firefightingunit, security guard and take care of all safety measures.
