One-Town residents up in arms against Vizag Port

Visakhapatnam: With the cold winds proclaiming the onset of winter, residents of one town area in the city ate gearing up to face multiple health- related issues, thanks to the pollution generated mainly on account of the Vizag Port . While the port authorities have undertaken several remedial measures to bring down the persistent pollution in the area, what is being done is just eyewash and the problems still persist, according to the denizens of the area who add that the problems double up in winter.

After facing copious agitations against the dust pollution due to the coking coal and iron ore deposits in the Vedanta and Essar stack yards respectively, the port had finally undertaken the construction of a compound wall around the stacks, agreed to wet the cargo, and pull tarpaulin sheets over the mounds in order to curb the dust from flying across. While acknowledging that the pollution had come down to a certain extent, the residents of Kottaveedhi, however, claim that it is still way beyond permissible levels.

When the cargo is being discharged to the hopper at the loading point, enormous quantities of powder is spread out in the air resulting in all residences being blanketed with black coal and iron ore dust. It is a similar scenario when the cargo is loaded on to the vehicles at the stack yard. This practically keeps the pollution persistent even though the port authorities claim to have taken remedial measures,” said CPI leader JV Satyanarayana Murthy.

Meanwhile, the remedial measures also have come in for criticism. “Anyone passing by the entrance of Vedanta’s stack yard can see huge mounds of uncovered coal left open. Tarpaulin sheets cover some mounds, but efforts haven’t been taken to cover them completely. Iron ore heaps can be seen under Essar’s conveyor belts,” said a resident of one town, on condition of anonymity.

The dust dissolves in the mist in winter and lingers in the air. This causes a lot of respiratory diseases. It is absolutely ridiculous that despite repeated agitations, the authorities are turning a blind eye to our problems,” said Mohammed Ali Khan, a former VPT employee and resident of Kottaveedhi.

Ali Khan said that the Pollution Control Board should take stringent measures to make sure that the companies concerned keep the pollution in check. “The authorities would do us a lot of good if they make sure the concerned companies lessen the height of the mounds, wet the cargo completely from all sides, construct a dome over the stack yards, clean the roads on a regular basis instead of just sprinkling water on them, and most importantly, jet water continuously when the reclaimers are working, in order to keep the dust from rising in the air,” said Ali Khan.

However, Srinivasa Rao, environment officer at Vizag Port Trust, said that all possible measures were being taken to contain the pollution. He said the quality of air on a majority of days was within permissible limits. He said that an environment management plan for the port had been prepared by ASCI Hyderabad, and was likely to be implemented in December, this year.

A high rise wall of 7.5 m height was constructed on the eastern and a part of northern side of the east yard at a cost of Rs 2 crore where there is a city interface,” he said, adding that the coal stack yards at GCB, WOB, North and South of S4 Conveyor had been provided with mechanical dust suppression systems.