Transportation of coal by trains, ash by trucks and use of sea water illegal'

Udupi, March 17: Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi has denied to grant the amendment to the environment clearance to Udupi Power Corporation to transport coal by railway, ash by trucks and the use of sea water. This means transportation of coal by trains, ash by trucks and the use of sea water for the UPCL project is totally illegal.

Executive President of Jana Jagruthi Samithi Nandikur Balakrishna Shetty in a press release said that during the end of last year the UPCL approached the Ministry for the amendment to the Environment Clearance dated 20th March 1997 although it has been already using Konkan Railway for transportation of coal from NMPT to project site, trucks for transportation of ash from the plant to Santhur dumping area and sea water for cooling and ash mixing purposes without authority since early 2010.

The Environmental Clearance stipulates transportation of coal by closed conveyor system with dust suppression mechanism, transportation of ash by pneumatic system through pipelines to the dumping area and desalinated water for the plant, he said.

Pneumatic technology is nothing new and UPCL, which is publicly boasting of state of the art technology in the plant should not have adapted the cheaper and environmentally damaging method.

The Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry in its 15th Meeting on Jan 10 this year had recommended the amendment without considering all the facts or site visit. The Samithi had raised strong objection to the Chairman of the Committee

VP Raja to review its recommendation. The Samithi reminded EAC that the Ministry had already carried out the impact assessment of transportation of coal by trains and had even filed an affidavit before the Honorable High Court of Karnataka in the case of Maneka Gandhi and Janajagrithi Samithi v/s Congentrix in Feb 1997 stating that after considering the environmental implications it had stipulated closed conveyor for transportation of coal from harbor to the project site and ash from the plant to the dumping area.

The Samithi also reminded the Ministry of the soil vulnerability in the area and potential contamination of the surface as well as the underground water resources and the consequent threat to human health and to crop due to dumping of fly ash and use of sea water by the project.

Upon receiving the objection by the Samithi, the EAC decided to withheld the recommendation. The EAC meeting held on Mar 14 and 15 refrained from granting the amendment.

It is absolutely clear that UPCL has been violating the terms of the Environmental Clearance. “The Ministry of Environment & Forest should seriously consider shutting down the plant permanently and invoke Public Liability Insurance Act for compensating to all those affected by pollution”, said Samithi President Balakrishna Shetty. He urged the Konkan Railway to stop transporting the coal by its goods trains in the absence of the amendment and the Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board as well as the District authorities to prevent the use of trucks for ash dumping and the pumping of the sea water.