THOOTHUKUDI: The V O Chidambaranar port, formerly known as Tuticorin port here, has been charged with operating without permission of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) approval. In a case filed on this issue against the port, the Madurai bench of the Madras High court on Friday issued show cause noticeto the five respondents including the Thoothukudi port trust chairman, I Jeyakumar.
A noted environmentalist, S P Muthuraman of Tirunelveli, who has filed the case against the port complained that the port, functioning under Major Ports Act, has not obtained the consent to operate (CTO) order from TNPCB since April 2015, after the CTO order it had obtained for the year 2014-2015 lapsed on March 31, 2015.
Moreover, Muthuraman too added that the port was given order only to handle 15.80 million tonnes of cargo per year, but increased its handling capacity without obtaining proper permission from the pollution control board. “It handled 34.5 million tonnes in the just concluded financial year,” noted Muthuraman, who also prayed for temporary closure of the port on the issue.
Admitting the case against V O Chidambaranar port, a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Nisha Banu issued notice seeking clarifications within a week to the Union Shipping ministry secretary, member secretary, Central Pollution Control Board, member-secretary, TNPCB, Thoothukudi district environmental engineer and V O Chidambaranar port trust chairman.
It is to be noted that a team from the union ministry of Environment, Forest and climate change inspected the port on August 2017 and found 22 violations of environmental norms and recommended the state pollution control board to deal with the violations stringently as per law. Based on those recommendations the state pollution control board through its Thoothukudi district environment engineer, T Kannan too issued a show cause notice seeking explanation from the port trust.
When DC contacted the V O Chidambaranar port trust chairman, Jeyakumar for his response on the issue, he said that he is yet to receive the court notice and hence could not respond on it.
