PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa on Monday, issued notice to government respondents and others on a plea filed by residents of Vasco led by one Sanjay Redkar, who have challenged the Mormugao Port’s plans to increase coal handling.
The High Court ordered that the government respondents file replies before September 11.
In their petition, the petitioners, all residents of Vasco stated that they are aggrieved by the expansion of the handling of the coal at Mormugao Port Trust from 10.64 million tonnes to 42.1 MTPA by 2035 which, the petitioners say, “poses hazard to the environment resulting in toxic emissions, coal dust pollution, and degradation of air, water and soil quality.”
“This expansion has thus violated the rights of the petitioners and similarly situated persons residing in the said area, as it has also impacted their traditional livelihood in fishing and tourism, and this even amount to violation of Article 19(1)(g) as well as undermine the citizens' efforts to safeguard the environment under Article 51A(g) of the Constitution,” the High Court noted, while referring to the claims of the petitioners.
In support of their claim the residents placed reliance upon the relevant extract of Working Group Report for Port Sector of the Twelfth Five Year Plan and relying upon the report it is sought to be canvassed before us that the Mormugao Port Trust has been categorised as a port with high density and proximity of population requiring it to be shifted by adopting time bound action plan in the wake of the severity of the hazards.
Coal handling has been a contentious issue at Goa’s Mormugao Port with residents of the port town claiming that the coal dust has an adverse effect on air quality. The government, for its part, has claimed that coal handling is now done in an indoor setting with a dome built to ensure that dust does not rise and be lifted by the sea breeze towards the port town.
Earlier, the Goa State Pollution Control Board had capped the handling of coal at around 7 million tons per annum.
