The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Chennai Bench, on Friday rejected the pleas to restrain Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) from going ahead with the works for the proposed LPG terminal at Puthuvype in Kochi.
The tribunal dismissed the pleas of two residents of Vypeen for cancelling the environmental clearance granted for the project.
According to K.U. Radhakrishnan and another resident, the project was being planned in the intertidal zone and within 200 metres of the high tide line in the Puthuvype Special Economic Zone.
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Rejects contention
Rejecting the contention of the applicants, the tribunal said the area between the low tide line and high tide line, which is the intertidal zone, “does not come under the category of CRZ I (i) unless the ingredients of CRZ I (i) are attracted. Nobody has a case that ingredients of CRZ I (i) are attracted so as to include the land under CRZ I (i). The contention of the applicants could have been accepted if the area falls under CRZ I (i). As it is not the case and the land is in CRZ I (ii), it is definitely a permissible activity.”
Dismissing yet another argument, the tribunal observed that it was clear that there was erosion on the sea coast and therefore a change on the sea coast. Based on such changes, it could not be found that the clearance granted in 2010 was for a different site when all other facts establish that it was for the same site.
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The tribunal said it was pointed out by all the parties that the objection against the project raised by the people, who caused obstruction to the construction, was based on the apprehension that the project might turn out to be injurious to their life and their property. It was pertinent to note that no such case was projected by the applicants in the application. So also there was no case that the clearance was granted without considering the safety measures or that the safety measures provided were not sufficient, the tribunal said. The tribunal, however, directed IOC to immediately carry out the recommendations of the Department of Ocean Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, in its report of May 2016 to avoid erosion of the coast in consultation with the IIT. It also directed the authorities, including the Kerala Coastal Zone Management Authority (KCZMA), to closely monitor the shore line configuration during the construction.