Goa pollution board shuts down port’s coal berth

Panaji, Sep 24 (IANS) Goa’s only major port, the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) Monday was closed down temporarily by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) for pollution caused by its coal handling berth.

In its notice issued Monday evening, GSPCB member secretary Levinson Martins also summoned the chairperson of the port authority, located 40 km from here, to explain why he was unable to keep the pollution levels at the coal handling unit down to tolerable levels.

“The management of the Mormugao Port Trust (MPT) is further directed to submit a detailed action plan within 15 days on the basis of which it proposes to improve the efficiency of the air pollution control measures in order to ensure that air pollution at Vasco town is reduced,” the notice reads.

MPT handles several hundreds of thousands of tonnes of coal at its handling facility near the port town of Vasco, whose residents have been up in arms against the “soot” pollution caused by coal dust.

—Indo-asian news service

maya/rt/vt

IANS 2012-09-24 21:12:29