Show-cause notice issued to Nagarjuna Oil Corporation - The Hindu

Show-cause notice issued to Nagarjuna Oil Corporation

For raising a structure without obtaining CRZ clearance

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has issued a show-cause notice to the Nagarjuna Oil Corporation Ltd, located at Kayalpattu in Thiruchopuram near here, asking the company why penal action should not be taken against it for violating the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and raising a structure without obtaining the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance.

In the notice the TNPCB has stated that the unit has started establishment of the marine terminal facility by providing a temporary bridge measuring 450-metre long, 6-metre wide and 6-metre above mean sea level, starting from the shoreline into the sea.

It has also noted that the unit has started providing pilings to a length of 261 metre in the sea for construction of an approach trestle. The unit has constructed four sheds in the CRZ area to carry out the construction activity and has also revived the jetty, without getting CRZ clearance, to facilitate the barge services to bring heavy equipment for the refinery.

When contacted, District Environmental Engineer (TNPCB-Cuddalore) A.Raja said that following the show-cause notice, the company had stopped the works on the construction of the temporary bridge. It could revive the works only after getting due clearance.

Meanwhile, executive secretary of the Consumer Federation Tamil Nadu M.Nizamudeen told presspersons that the construction of the temporary bridge by the company had caused sea erosion in the nearby coastal villages and affected the fishing community.

Call for comprehensive cancer screening camp in SIPCOT Industrial Estate area - The Hindu

The SIPCOT Area Community Environmental Monitoring (an outfit comprising local residents) and the Consumer Federation of Tamil Nadu have appealed to Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to order a comprehensive cancer screening camp in the villages surrounding the SIPCOT Industrial Estate here. The Cuddalore district administration along with the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board had organised a “cancer screening camp” on last June 29 at Kudigadu near the industrial estate in which three women doctors and two men doctors screened a total of 255 patients.

According to M.Nizamudeen, executive secretary of the Federation, even while the camp was going on, Joint Director of Health Services B. Kamalakannan had come over there and instructed the doctors on duty to file a “nil” report on the people's health status.

In this regard the organisations screened a short footage, which was shot in a hand-held camera and recorded on a compact disc, the Joint Director's action to the presspersons here on Monday.

The organisations stated that the camp was organised on a working day without proper intimation. It looked as if an attempt was made to give a clean chit to the industrial units that they were not discharging any carcinogenic pollutants.

Dr Kamalakannan told this correspondent that all doctors had taken the Hippocratic oath not to swerve from ethical medical practices. What he had told the doctors was that if they did not come across any cancer symptoms they could file the “nil” report, but it was misinterpreted in certain quarters and used as a tool for a motivated campaign.

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