KOCHI: The expert committee constituted by the State government to look into the safety concerns raised about the proposed LPG import terminal at Puthuvype will submit its report to the government by the end of October.
The three-member panel, led by N. Purnachandra Rao, Director, National Centre for Earth Sciences Studies (NCESS), Thiruvananthapuram, met the aggrieved residents of the island on Thursday.
The committee members, Eapen Varghese, former Chief Town Planner, and K.V. Thomas, a CRZ expert and a former scientist of NCESS, and special invitees, K.K. Ramachandran, a scientist of NCESS, M.C. Dathan, scientific advisor to the Chief Minister, John Mathai, a former scientist of NCESS, and C.N. Prakash, scientist of NCESS, were present at the meeting.
District Collector K. Mohammed Y. Safirulla coordinated the panel meetings. Besides the representatives of islanders, delegates of various political parties met the panel, which visited the plant site in the afternoon.
The protest against the plant, a project of Indian Oil Corporation, had snowballed into a law and order issue with a section of residents clashing with the police. The residents had also launched a series of agitations against the proposed unit.
The panel may meet stakeholders a few more times and visit the site as part of the preparation of the report, Mr. Rao told media persons.
