Centre cautious on new industrial parks after recent gas leaks, denies TN's proposal

“As there are some lags which may affect the environment, we resent the proposal. We have not rejected the complete proposal, the TN was asked to revisit on certain modules of the Industrial Park as it has not fulfilled our criteria,” said a senior officer with MoEFCC’s Expert Appraisal Committee.

New Delhi: After the recent gas leak incidents from Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam and Assam’s Baghjan Oil Field, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is on a caution mode to give nod to the states to initiate industrial parks.

The recent one such incident was when the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) had denied the proposal of Tamil Nadu government to set up an Industrial Park at a cost of Rs 310 crore in Ottapidaram near Thoothukudi, situated about 591 km south to Chennai.

“As there are some lags which may affect the environment, we resent the proposal. We have not rejected the complete proposal, the TN was asked to revisit on certain modules of the Industrial Park as it has not fulfilled our criteria,” said a senior officer with MoEFCC’s Expert Appraisal Committee.

The Ministry had also learned that there are objections lying against the project from environmental activist and locals as the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park is situated just 8 km away from the proposed point.

A communication sent to Tamil Nadu Government has also confirmed the same.

For setting an Industrial Park it is essential to fulfilling the criteria such as pollution-free, water norms, probable effect in air quality, the distance of impact. However, TN has not met the terms.

According to the MoEFCC, the ministry’s main concern erupted only after the gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam and oil and gas leak in a field at Baghjan in Assam.

It can also be recalled that Thoothukudi was shaken by people’s protest against the Vedanta’s Sterlite Copper Smelter which resulted in a police firing costing 13 lives in May 2018.

The protesters alleged the copper smelter is causing hazards through its effluents which had polluted the water and air.

Recalling the severeness of the past protests and its impacts in the southern state, the EAC questioned TN that how it allowed more pollution prone companies to function around the concerned spot.