CHENNAI: The southern bench of National Green Tribunal on Monday has lashed out at government-owned Kamajar Port Limited and North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) for continuously violating environmental norms, thereby degrading Ennore ecosystem which is a critical habitat in terms of flood mitigation for North Chennai.
Invoking ‘Polluter Pays’ principle, the green bench has directed the Kamarajar Port to deposit Rs 8.35 crore with the Central Pollution Control Board within two months. The move comes after the NGT-appointed panel found damning evidence in the report it submitted to the tribunal on Monday.
The report talked about destruction of mangroves and heavy metals contaminating the soil due to illegal dumping of dredged soil in Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) area in Ennore Creek. The committee, comprising officials from CPCB, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and IIT Madras, collected soil samples at all nine dredged material dumpsites. Satellite images reveal that dredged material has not been completely removed.
“The mangroves in the area may be lost due to dumping. Currently, the mangroves in the area are very thin. The port authority has not adopted any scientific methods to remediate the soil or to restore the soil/mangroves to regional conditions,” the report, accessed by Express, reads. The report also says elements such as magnesium, aluminium, iron, potassium, chromium, lead and calcium are present in soil at high concentration. “The elements are found in high concentrations at a depth of 100cm below the ground, indicating that the metals have leached from the dredged material dumpsite. Since such high concentrations are present in the soil, there is a possibility of groundwater contamination and also surrounding surface water bodies,” says the report.
The port authorities claimed that a total of 83,533 Cum of dredged material has been removed following NGT order as compared 73,113 Cum to material dumped in the CRZ notified area for the development of additional coal berths during 2015. Sunil Paliwal, Chairman cum Managing Director of Kamarajar Port, told Express, “We have removed the dumped material to best of our capability. Since NGT has directed us not to use heavy machinery, we had to do it manually. I am yet to see what committee has said in the report. What ever the technical recommendations made by the committee and directions given by the tribunal will be examined and followed.”
NGT rejects NCTPS action plan
North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS), which is another major polluter, has submitted an action plan which was incorporated by the joint committee in its report. However, NGT bench has rejected the action plan where the timeline of remedial works extended up to 2023. The green bench said such a long rope cannot be granted and directed the committee to come-up with shorter timeline.