MUMBAI: After years of ignoring the illegal storage of harmful chemicals within the premises of Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has been forced to act against chemical companies in the city flouting Coastal Regulation Zone notifications.
The MPCB has issued a show-cause notice to Aegis Chemical Industries Limited on February 21 for not obtaining environmental and CRZ clearances before allegedly setting up 41 chemical tanks at Pir-Pau jetty in Chembur.
“The Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority (MCZMA) has not issued any clearance to chemical storage tanks in the area,” said a senior MPCB official. Hazardous chemicals have been transported to and from the jetty for past 15 years, the official said.
A source said investigations by the deputy regional officer of MPCB Ganpat Mohite revealed that all the storage tanks built by Aegis Chemicals Limited after the CRZ notification in 1991 were illegal and had no prior approval either from MCZMA or the Ministry of Environment and Forests, New Delhi. The Coastal Zone Management Plan was not approved for storage tanks, which is mandatory for all such establishments outside as well as for those within the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) limits.
The MbPT has also violated guidelines from the chief controller of explosives, Nagpur, by allowing the storage of hazardous chemicals like caustic soda, the report pointed out. Thousands of residents of the area are at a risk as high-tension electric lines run across the storage tanks, which could result in a disaster. The show-cause notice, based on Mohite’s report, has categorically accused Aegis Logistics of operating without valid consent or authorisation from the MPCB. It has also asked the company to explain why its activities should not be stopped and whether competent authorities should be directed to disconnect electric and water supply.
Aegis Logistics — a subsidiary of Aegis Chemicals Limited — had before the CRZ notification issued on February 19, 1991, set up 13 chemical storage tank terminals with storage capacity of around 16,500 kls. But the number has now increased to 41 with a total storage capacity of 200,000 kls.
