the goan I network
VASCO
After struggling for two months, the Ganesh Benzoplast Limited (GBL) finally got the pending Consent To Operate (CTO) issued by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) on Saturday, much to the relief and satisfaction of GBL terminal staff and management.
Sources in GBL said the approval on the CTO was uploaded on the GSPCB site and with the only pending CTO now issued by the GSPCB, the GBL now becomes a full-fledged tanking unit with all necessary permissions and approvals.
The GBL, which has all statutory permissions, including approval from the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) required for storage of inflammable cargo like Naphtha till 2022, had only been waiting for the CTO from the GSPCB.
“There had been so many reports portraying GBL as a villain after naphtha was stored in the GBL tanks and had become a hot topic of political agenda.”
“We were also being targeted by petitioners who had filed a PIL after naphtha was removed from the ship by us, safely stored in our tanks and subsequently transferred back into another ship for export,” said a source at GBL.
“Under these circumstances, we were worried that the CTO, for which we had applied way back in November 2019, could have been further delayed due to political pressure or negative reports against our tanks and the stored naphtha.”
“Finally, the GSPCB issued us the CTO reiterating our faith that no negative reports or political pressure can impact the GSPCB, which has gone through our application and granted us the CTO.”
“We now have all valid approvals and permissions and this CTO was the only document pending, but it has
finally been issued. Now, there is no scope for anyone to take a dig at us for not being a valid tanking company in the port,” the source added.
The GBL source said the company had applied for the CTO in first week of November 2019 and had also paid renewal fees. A Technical Advisory Committee was formed by GSPCB to study the application and permission to renew CTO was placed before the TAC.
“Where necessary compliance reports were presented by the GBL to the satisfaction of the TAC, which recommended to the board to issue us the CTO,” said the GBL source.
It may be recalled the The Goan had highlighted the GBL’s CTO which had been pending before the GSPCB for two months. A GBL official had also rejected criticisms that it was neither equipped not competent to move and handle the inflammable naphtha.
