CHENNAI: The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken suo moto cognizance of TANGEDCO’s alleged violation in Ennore and formed a six-member joint committee to investigate. The bench comprising judicial member K Ramakrishnan and expert member K Satygopal passed the order based on an article that Express published last month, which highlighted how TANGEDCO altered alignment of the coal conveyor belt of Ennore SEZ project and encroached upon Kosasthalaiyar backwaters.
The joint committee has been directed to ascertain whether there are any violations of conditions imposed in the clearances and permissions granted for TANGEDCO, whether there was any deviation from the proposed alignment without obtaining any approvals of modification from appropriate authorities. The committee has also been directed to assess the environmental compensation, if there is any damage caused to the environment.
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) would be the nodal agency for coordination and it was asked to file an independent report regarding pollution caused and the action taken. The tribunal also took cognizance of another media report which highlighted fly ash pipeline leak.
Meanwhile, more evidence was released by the Save Ennore Creek Campaign on TANGEDCO’s alleged violations, on Tuesday. It has claimed that the power corporation has used dredged sea sand with dangerous levels of arsenic, cadmium, copper and chromium to reclaim Kosasthalaiyar river backwaters for building coal conveyor corridor.
“Sand samples collected from the “reclaimed” portion of the river contained 14.96 mg/kg of Arsenic, more than two times the Interim Sediment Quality Guideline (ISQG) for aquatic sediment of 7.24 mg/kg, 15.23 mg/kg of cadmium, more than 20 times ISQG, 23.54 mg/kg of copper which is 1.25 times ISQG and 106.1 mg/kg of chromium, which is more than twice safe levels in aquatic sediments. The ISQGs are safe threshold levels of chemicals for protection of aquatic life, and represent levels above which toxic effects on aquatic life may occur,” the report said.
Use of dredged sea sand for reclamation is banned by an order of NGT. A January 2020 report submitted to the NGT by a joint committee of Central Pollution Control Board and TNPCB found that sea sand dredged and dumped in the Ennore Creek by Kamarajar Port contained “very high concentrations” of magnesium, aluminum, potassium, chromium, lead and calcium, and “high concentrations” of other toxic metals like copper, nickel and zinc.
The levels of these metals found in the samples taken from TANGEDCO’s dumpsite inside the river are far higher than even the “very high concentrations” reported by joint panel. When contacted, a senior Ennore SEZ project official denied the allegation and said no dredged sea sand was used.