Goa allows dirty coal handling facility to restart so it can study how bad the pollution actually is

Goa’s pollution control agency has decided to allow the JSW group to import coal through the state, less than a year after it filed a criminal case against the company and banned its operations for violating air quality laws. A fresh permit, known as “consent to operate”, would be issued to the company to handle four million tonnes of coal each year, the Goa State Pollution Control Board announced on June 29.

The decision is a setback to the growing public movement against the transport of large quantities of coal through the state. Since last year, several village panchayats have passed resolutions demanding that coal handling be banned in the state. Civil society organisations have raised concerns about air pollution as a result of coal dust, the loss of livelihoods this could cause for small fishermen and the risk it could pose to endangered marine species. Read more

Courtesy: Scroll.in