MARGAO
Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco has demanded that the government should reveal to Goans once and for all that the double-tracking of Hospet-Vasco SWR line, nationalisation of rivers and expansion of highways is done only with primary purpose to ferry coal to Karnataka.
In a letter to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant against the backdrop of the verbal assurances given by Union Minister for Shipping that coal handling capacity at MPT would be reduced from the current level, Reginaldo said the government is concealing or is pretending to be oblivious to a bitter fact that cargo import projections as envisioned in the master plan report for Goa under the Centre’s Sagarmala programme under which MPT will be upgraded and enhanced to have a capacity of 51 MMPTA by 2035 to cater to the rising needs of coal and coke in Karnataka.
He drew attention of the Chief Minister to the past when the Central government has ignored letters written by the government of Goa regarding the expansion that the coal handling capacity of MPT as seen from the fate of earlier two letters bearing D.O. No. 1-1-2017/CM/434 dated 14th August 2017 and D.O. No. 1-1-20/CM/96 dated 17th February 2018 written by the then Hon’ble Chief Minister Mr Manohar Parrikar to then Union Environment Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.
“Manohar Parrikar was very clear that the State Government led by him “had taken a consistent and clear stand that no expansion be allowed” to M/s South West Port Limited (SWPL) “for enhancing the cargo (including coal, iron ore, etc) handling capacity for the grant of Environmental Clearance (EC) by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC)”. The then CM had also written that even with respect to the existing 5.5 MTPA capacity for which consent has been given, steps have to be taken to ensure that pollution remains within permissible limits. However, sad to say, South West Port’s capacity enhancement proposal is well on its way to receive Environmental Clearance (EC) from the MoEF&CC with the concerned EAC recommending the case for approval”, he added.
In addition, he said the proposed coal terminal at Berth 8, 9 & barge berths and capital dredging of approach channel for navigation of capsize vessels have also been recommended by EAC for grant of EC earlier this year.
Referring to Power Minister Nilesh Cabral’s statement that he too would write to the Central government that coal expansion is not further enhanced at the MPT, Reginaldo wondered “if Manohar Parrikar’s two letters were not given any weightage whatsoever and literally consigned to the dustbin, I wonder what value your letter would hold on the aforesaid subject.
