Hold public hearing on new projects, MPT tells GSPCB

Panaji: The Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) has asked the Goa state pollution control board (GSPCB) to conduct a public hearing on the issue of development of a fishing jetty, a passenger jetty, and handling of general cargo at the port, all of which have faced opposition.
MPT chief engineer L A Mathew, in a letter to GSPCB, said that the port has submitted all details and clarifications as requested by the board, yet the letter to the district collector has not yet been issued. Mathew hence asked the board to write to the district collector (South Goa) to propose a suitable date for the public hearing as prescribed in the environment impact assessment notification, 2006.

The fishing jetty has strongly been objected to by the fishing community. While the passenger jetty has been planned for passenger vessels on routes from Vasco, GSPCB had sought a clarification from the MPT before the public hearing on ‘multipurpose cargo’, as it is too generic a term and would create confusion during the consultation process.

For the grant of environmental clearance (EC) for the proposed projects, the GSPCB had directed the MPT to submit 20 additional hard and soft copies of the draft environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, including the summary report in English and Konkani, along with 20 copies of form I as submitted by them to the ministry of environment, forest, and climate change (MoEFCC). Further, the MPT was informed that the process of public hearing would only be initiated upon receipt of the documents, after which the date and tentative venue for the hearing would be communicated.

The GSPCB also asked the MPT to clarify whether the proposed modernization and expansion of port infrastructure is a single project of the MPT, as it appears that there are several projects or expansion initiatives proposed within the port area. The MPT then sent a letter to the board with two demand drafts of Rs 15 lakh for organizing the public hearing.