The Chennai Port Trust has asked the Madras High court for
an extension of deadline by six months to shift its handling of coal and iron
ore to Ennore Port. The move comes five months after the Madras HC banned
Chennai port from handling dusty cargo from October 1.
A review petition in this regard has been filed by the port trust explaining
various measures taken involving several crores of rupees to minimise pollution
levels in the vicinity of the port.
In its order on May 11, HC had asked the port trust authorities to halt
handling of dusty cargo immediately and not to accept any such cargo after
October 1, which is the deadline to shift the cargo to Ennore port.
In its petition, the Chennai Port Trust said that among other things, 110 water
sprinklers had been installed in the coal yard and on roads, and around 3-km of
8-metre-high windscreens had been erected along the roads surrounding the coal
and iron ore stocks to prevent transmission of dust.
A bubble structure of about 10,000 square metres was set up at Rs 6 crore to
store up to 50,000 tonnes of coal without increasing the level of pollutants. A
5-km semimechanised coal conveyor system at a cost of Rs 40 crore has been
installed to contain the pollution to a great extent, the trust said in its
petition.
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