With monsoons waning, the covers are all set to come off thehuge coal stacks towering over Mormugao Port Trust’s Berth No 10 and 11. Vascoreadies for another season of inhaling fine particles of coal and coke dust.
Earlier this year in February and March, Goa State PollutionControl Board’s air ambience quality monitoring station near electricity fuseoffice found that Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) as well as RespirableSuspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) in the ambient air was way beyondpermissible limits.
The levels are a pointer of how breathable and safe is theair we breathe. The station adjacent to MPT’s Berth no 11 is a shockingrevelation of how dangerous is the air people in Vasco breathe.
It has been a decade since Vasco has been battling with coaldust pollution. The havoc is a result of over 3 million tonnes of coal that isimported from Australia and China. The coal offloaded from ships is dumped inthe open on Berth Nos 10 and 11 that lie closest to the city centre. The finepowdery coal dust that comes off the large coal chunks is swept deep inside theport town by sea breeze blowing inland. While summers turn the town black, thecoal is washed off into the sea during monsoons. Either ways, the majorstakeholders of the coal business in Vasco have abandoned the city.
Last week, GSPCB held a hearing for MPT where they wereasked to show cause as to why their consent to operate should not be withdrawn.Goa’s apex pollution control body concluded that MPT was causing severe airpollution in the town of Vasco da Gama causing environmental degradation andadverse impact on health of the residents of the vicinity.
MPT Chairman P Mara Pandiyan is oblivious of the extent ofpollution. “We don’t deny that there is no pollution at manual coal handlingberth no 10 and 11 but these are meant for local Goan industries,” said MaraPandiyan in defence. The chairman is unaware of the levels of coal dust thathangs in Vasco’s air thanks to MPT’s coal mishandling.
However, the coal importers at MPT, Mormugao Port UsersAssociation (MPUA) are not willing to accept GSPCB’s report. “Something iswrong with GSPCB’s reading method as they differ from that of Bhagavathi Lab’sreadings,” says Lawrence D’Souza, Executive Director, MPUA.
MPUA has commissioned Hyderabad based Bhagavathi Ana Lab Ltdwhich monitors Vasco’s ambient air quality from three different residentialareas as against GSPCB’s one location. “Our readings have consistently showedthat we are well within permissible limits,” says MPUA’ D’ Souza. BhagavathiAna Labs is recognized by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) as one ofthe key air monitoring bodies in India. Attacking GSPCB’s outdated Ambient AirQuality standard method of SPM and RSPM, D’Souza informs that MPUA is using newparameter of Particulate Matter.
What however is happening in the crossfire is that Vascocontinues to battle pollution from the air in dry seasons and pollution of thewater in the monsoons. Courtroom battles seem to be no panacea for a city fedup with empty promises both legal and political.
