CHENNAI: A public interest petition filed in the Madras high court has sought an end to the ongoing unauthorized shipbreaking work at Nochikuppam on the Marina.
When the PIL, filed by the South Indian Fishermen Welfare Association, came up for admission before the first bench comprising Chief Justice M Y Eqbal and Justice T S Sivagnanam on Tuesday, the judges directed the counsel of the state government to get instructions on the matter. They then adjourned the matter for three weeks.
In his petition, the association president Puratchi Kayal Bharathi of Nochikuppam in Mylapore submitted that a city-based company - Lumix Export and Import - has been outsourced the job of wrecking two vessels. Ever since the company commenced the work, it has been creating nuisance and disturbing public peace in the area. The petitioner sent a representation to the authorities on May 11. Since there was no response from the authorities, he filed the PIL.
In the PIL, he said that the company had not obtained any permission or licence to take up the wrecking work on the Marina, and that the shipbreaking work was being carried flouting the guidelines of the District Seashore Regulating Commission, of which the Chennai district collector is the chairman.
Bharathi further submitted that the ship-wrecking work had affected fishing in the region, as fishermen reported only small fish catch during the process. Besides causing severe water and air pollution in the fishing village, it posed severe health and safety hazard to the residents, it said.
The PIL wanted the authorities to be directed to stop the ongoing works, besides ensuring that no such works were carried out in future.
Source: times of india. 20 June 2012
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