KOCHI: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is scheduled to meet representatives of Puthuvype residents who have launched a protest against the construction of an LPG receiving jetty and storage facilities on Puthuvype by the public sector Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).
Work on the terminal was stalled on February 15 this year, although IOC had maintained that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had given the “go ahead” for the project in its verdict on April 13. However, the work on the project has not been resumed.
The LPG Terminal Virudha Janakeeya Samara Samiti (people’s combine against LPG terminal) has maintained that IOC has been misleading the media and the people. M.B. Jayagosh, chairman of the Samiti, said work had not resumed at the site, and that their protest action had been on for 81 days now.
Minister for Industries A.C. Moideen, who had visited the protesters in April, had convened a meeting of the representatives and leaders of the Samiti before submitting a report to the Chief Minister. Speaking for the Samiti, Mr. Jayaghosh reiterated that the project posed a threat to the lives of people living near the terminal site.
However, IOC officials have maintained that the project had received all statutory clearances. A statement issued by IOC after the April 13 verdict from the NGT cited P.S. Mony, general manager and State head, IOC, as saying that the NGT had passed an order confirming that there was no bar on proceeding with the work even in accordance with an earlier order issued in August last year.
IOC is investing a total of ₹2,200 crore on the project, which also includes the nearly 500-km Kochi-Salem LPG pipeline, which will help take away hundreds of LPG tankers off the road.
The terminal is coming up within the special economic zone under the Cochin Port Trust, and it costs approximately ₹714 crore.
