Coal news and updates

Mumbai Port Trust under pressure to resume coal handling in city

After a sustained TOI campaign against coal handling in the city, the Mumbai Port Trust recently issued a public notice declaring it would stop handling coal by September 24 and clear the area of coal by October 31. However, the port trust is under immense pressure to restart coal handling by those who gain from the exercise. TOI has learnt that the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board may be on the verge of renewing the port trust's 'consent to operate' for coal handling, which was set to expire at the end of this month. This, despite the fact that coal handling on port land and has had a disastrous impact on people's health and on the environment.

Incidentally, the port trust had written to the pollution regulator saying that they would not be able to meet the norms specified in the current 'consent to operate' order. The port trust itself is keen to discontinue the coal handling. The BJP-led shipping ministry has expressed its desire to stop coal handling on port land. Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari had publicly stated that he wanted to move the handling of "dirty cargo" such as coal and chemicals, out of the Mumbai port trust. However Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna has been flashing articles against stopping coal handling on Mumbai port land. "We are caught in the crossfire between different sections of society," say port officials.

Incidentally, three important stake holders in the matter—a shipping company, the state power generator and a trading company, have written to the state pollution control board complaining of plans to shift coal handling out of Mumbai. The port says it had no choice but to write to the pollution control board citing these letters and asking whether they were going to reconsider extending the 'consent to operate.'

Both the politics and economics of the matter ignore the impact that a decade of coal handling have had on Mumbai's environment. Over one lakh metric tonnes of coal have formed toxic mountains on port land. Residents of the area have suffered from severe respiratory ailments, which have, in some cases, been fatal. Students of the nearby maritime college have coal dust in their lungs. Koli fishermen have been dredging up dead fish and crabs. Every person who lives or works in the area says the phlegm they cough up, and the snot in their nose is black with coal.

"It was well expected that the port trust would be pressured into restarting coal operations, as there are many vested interests involved in pilfering and selling coal from Mumbai. These vested interests would find it hard to pilfer coal from other nearby ports," said retired vice admiral I C Rao, who along with banker Meera Sanyal, had petitioned the Bombay High Court last year seeking to prevent the pollution control board from renewing the port trust's 'consent to operate' for coal. The high court had asked the pollution control board to treat the petition as a representation before it, and hear the matter. The pollution regulator dragged its feet for nine months, during which time, the port trust was handling coal without a valid 'consent to operate'. Despite evidence that the coal handling violated environmental norms, the pollution board renewed the consent for coal in August this year, backdating it to September 2014. This consent order is set to expire by the end of this month.

source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com