A people’s action
council constituted against the operations of the Steel Industries Kerala
Limited’s (SILK) ship-breaking unit at Beypore has decided to fight the issue
legally.
The move is in the wake
of the SILK’s decision to continue the ship dismantling operations at the spot.
The new decision of the
SILK to set up one more ship dismantling project at the Beypore yard, unmindful
of the brewing public protest against the venture in the region, is also a
reason behind the action council’s move.
Leaders of the action
committee said the unit was functioning at the spot without obtaining proper
clearance from the Ministry of Environment and the State Pollution Control
Board. The several legal violations in the project would thus tilt the court
battle in their favour, the action council leaders said.
As part of discussing
the legal measures, the committee members, with support from similar movements
against ship-breaking units, will convene a meeting in the district in five
days.
The meeting will also
discuss the possibilities of suing top government officials who allegedly gave
green signal for the operations even when they lacked the mandatory clearances
from other government departments.
“Citing environmental
reasons, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) had issued a stop memo
to SILK nearly three months ago, but it hardly affected the functioning at the
yard,” said M.K. Manoharan, one of the leaders of the action council.
Source: the hindu. 9 February
2015
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