Kerala: National Green Tribunal not to buy LPG plant report

Kochi: The south zone bench of the National Green Tribunal has observed that the report submitted by the state government on the Indian Oil Corporation’s LPG terminal plant at Puthuvype is unacceptable as it is. The report was by an expert committee appointed by the state government. During the hearing of an earlier petition on the project on Tuesday, the NGT observed that since the two coastal maps submitted by the state and the IOC have a big difference, it can’t be accepted.

While the state submitted a 1996 map of Centre for Earth Science Studies in 1996, the Indian Oil Corporation’s was of the same agency prepared in 2009 to get environmental clearance.  There is a big difference in the tidal zones marked in them.   The tribunal asked how such variation in the geographical areas in two 
different years can happen. “Extra care is needed while preparing reports using government funds for public utility projects,” the NGT bench remarked. The Tribunal, however, didn’t deliver any conclusive verdict as the hearing on an earlier petition is progressing.