Sudipto Mondal

Mangalore, February 28, 2008: The Nagarika Hitarakshana Samiti has questioned the safety of the rehabilitation colony coming up in Kana Kulai village. The colony is being built for the people who have been displaced by the Mangalore Special Economic Zone project.

The samiti, which is being led by Karunakara Shetty, has been opposing the acquisition of land for the rehabilitation colony.

In a letter to the Secretary of Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the samiti has said that the rehabilitation colony is located in a sensitive area, which is bounded by three “hazardous industries”, BASF India Ltd, Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Company Ltd.

The samiti has attached a letter written by the Member Secretary of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board with their letter to the Secretary of State Environment Department. The letter, written in May 2007, advises the Environment Department against approving the colony.

It states that the residential colony would be exposed to grave risk in case of any accident in one of the industries. The Member Secretary of KSPCB has stated that after the Bhopal gas tragedy, the Government had laid down restrictions on creating residential colonies in the vicinity of potentially hazardous industrial units.

The work is on at the rehabilitation colony site. About Rs. 1.4 crore has already been spent. Sources from MSEZ Ltd said that the colony would be completed in four phases. The managing director and chief executive officer of MSEZ, I.S.N. Prasad, said that the KSPCB had subsequently cleared the rehabilitation colony.

Source: The Hindu