Chennai:
Chennai Port Trust is planning to
explore the possibility of handling coal and iron cargo again which was banned
by Madras High Court and a high level expert committee set up by the apex court
is studying the issues in allowing the port to handle the cargo, said according
to Atulya Misra, chairman of the Chennai Port.
Addressing the annual press
meet here on Thursday, Mishra said a
high level expert committee, which included secretary shipping, chief secretary
of Tamil Nadu government, Central Pollution Control Board, Tamil Nadu Pollution
Control Board, National Environment Engineering Research Institute, IIT Madras
besides other experts, is expected to submit its report by July.
He said the committee was formed
after Chennai Port filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court to
review the Madras High Court’s judgment banning the port from handling coal and
iron ore in 2011 stating that its pollutes the environment.
Chennai Port officials say
that the pollution levels could be fixed which the port should adhere to. Prior
to the ban the Chennai Port was handling around 10 million tonne of iron ore
and around eight million tonne of coal and earning around Rs 226 crore of
revenue.
Interestingly, the ban has hit the
port hard and Mishra said that the port survived after the reduction of the 18
million tones of cargo. According to P C Parida, deputy chairman, the
port has posted a provisional net surplus of Rs 6 crore last fiscal down from
Rs 68.06 crore clocked 2010-11. Mishra
said the port is now looking at handling more containerised cargo, edible oil,
project cargo, sugar, fertiliser and others. Despite the loss of two major
cargoes the port has earned a provisional operating income of Rs 620 crore
during fiscal 2011-12 as against Rs 683.91 crore. 
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