Panaji: In a setback to the Mormugao Port Authority’s (MPA) expansion plans, the Western Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has continued its interim stay on the environmental and coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance for the port’s channel deepening project.A two-member bench comprising judicial member Justice Dinesh Singh and expert member Sujit Bajpayee halted the July 21, 2025, clearance, citing procedural flaws, irrelevant ‘copy-pasted’ environmental conditions and unresolved concerns over coal and ore handling capacity. The project will remain on hold until at least the next hearing on Nov 2.The interim order followed an application by environmental activist Rupesh Shinkre and another appellant. Their advocate, Agney Sail, highlighted discrepancies in the Union environment ministry’s appraisal. The bench questioned why conditions meant for industrial incinerators and municipal landfills, including monitoring dioxins, furans and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), had been included in the port’s clearance. The ministry’s representative could not explain the inclusion.This is the second time the tribunal has intervened in the project. It quashed an earlier clearance granted in Feb 2016 after finding that mandatory public consultations had been bypassed.The appeal raises concerns over coal dust pollution in Vasco. Deepening the 9.66km-long, 0.27km-wide approach channel to around 19 metres would allow larger Capesize vessels to dock, increasing coal and metallurgical ore handling capacity across berths 5, 6 and 7 from 12 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 42.1 MTPA.A 2017 Goa State Pollution Control Board report found particulate matter (PM10) levels exceeding permissible limits at several monitoring stations around port berths during April-May 2016. The board subsequently cut coal handling capacity by 25%. CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography reports also warned that airborne coal dust could expose residents to coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, commonly known as black lung disease.The appellants argued that an IIT Bombay source apportionment study, required by the expert appraisal committee (EAC) to identify pollution sources, was not formally presented to it before clearance was granted. The tribunal gave MPA’s counsel, Y M Nadkarni, two weeks to produce evidence that the report was placed before the committee.Minutes of the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority’s May 2024 meeting also recorded an expert’s warning that the 15 million cubic metres of dredging could affect the Zuari estuary bed, seabed morphology and riverbanks. The expert recommended a fresh environmental impact assessment before, during and after dredging. However, the authority cleared the proposal, citing its earlier approval in 2018.The NGT has directed MPA to submit a point-by-point compliance report within three weeks before the matter, along with a connected appeal, is reconsidered on Nov 2.
