GSPCB orders MPT to suspend coal and coke handling operations

Revoking its earlier consent to Mormugao Port Trust, the Goa State Pollution Control Board ordered the MPT to stop its coal and coke handling operations in its berths 10 and 11, pointing out the failures of the MPT to control pollution. The order issued under the Air(Prevention and the Control of Pollution) Act 1981, and Water (Prevention and the Control of Pollution) Act 1974,  by GSPCB member secretary Mr.Levinson Martin points out “inefficient implementation of the air pollution control measures” by MPT. The order lists out the serious failures of MPT: its failure to use water sprinklers effectively to control dust pollution due to coal handling; its failure to cover properly the trucks that transport coal with tarpaulin; its failure to prevent the run off water carrying coal dust from the coal storage plot into the river. Charges of very serious nature. MPT also has to submit a detailed action plan within 15 days, stating its proposal to control the air pollution in Vasco.

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