Coal news and updates

Minister intervenes, MbPT to now handle coal till 2017

Residents around Haji Bunder will continue to face the brunt of pollution as the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) plans to handle coal till 2017, following the intervention of state environment minister Ramdas Kadam.

MbPT had earlier announced that it will discontinue handling of coal at Haji Bunder from October 31. But a meeting was called last week by Kadam after the state power ministry claimed it would suffer a loss of Rs 500 crore if coal-handling was discontinued by the port trust.

Kadam told TOI, "I gave the directions as the contract to handle coal had already been issued. We have given temporary approval to MbPT to handle coal for one-and-a-half years."

He claimed that MbPT will have to fulfil 14 conditions laid down by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) before it starts handing coal again. The conditions include a provision to cover the coal stock yard. The industry will also have use covered trucks and wagons for transportation of coal to avoid spillage and airborne coal particles, and use a mechanised closed coal handling terminal.

Kadam said MbPT had fulfilled nine of the 14 conditions. MbPT chairman R M Parmar said, "We are yet to get instructions in writing. However, being public sector, we cannot ignore the directions."

When told that coal-handling will cause environmental degradation, he said, "We cannot totally eliminate the problem but the impact can definitely be minimised."

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com