CORTALIM
Goenchea Ramponkaranchea Ekvott (GRE) Joint General Secretary Olencio Simoes has warned the Mormugao Port Trust and Transport Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari for haphazardly approving dredging of deepening the existing navigation channel at the MPT.
“The MPT is acting like a State within the State and does not even take the government authorities into consideration nor even consult the traditional fishermen’s nor approach to the fishermen unions/associations,” states the GRE press release.
The GRE press release further stated that the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) has already cautioned that there is a need to carry out proper and detailed studies with regard to the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).
“The EIA report of WAPCOS Limited has no information available pertaining to the condition of the existing channel in the form of echo-sounding profile; even the geophysical work are not presented and also, the cross sectional depth profiles are not available for understanding the sea floor morphology of the shipping lane. Also, there is no data available on the bore holes and the analysis of the sediments requires review,” the release further states.
Simoes further claimed that the MPT intends to dredge and deepen the navigation channel by 5 metres and this will have drastic morphological changes within the estuary and may also lead to washing off the entire area of Sancoale and Chicalim bay.
“The navigation channel is now sought to be deepened by MPT to 19.8 mtrs, an increase of 5 metres in just one attempt. It is precisely this sudden increase in the channel depth that will induce drastic morphological changes within the estuary,” Simoes added.
