[Reader-list] PM asked to drop Petroleum SEZ in M'lore

[Vani Asharira]

Dear Friends, Found this article on the Mangalorean.com please file your objection to the MSEZ and PCPIR after reading this article. NO MSEZ and PCPIR. Best Regards, S. AarvindPM asked to drop Petroleum SEZ in M'lore
By Team Mangalorean - Mangalore
MANGALORE June 27: The SEZ Impact Assessment Committee an NGO working in the field of environment and anti chemical activism has apprehended that the proposed  Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and its downstream component Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) would make Mangalore a 'chemically hazardous zone'. 

Addressing a joint press conference along with Dakshina Kannada Parisaraskthara Okkutta  here today Convener of the SEZ Impact Committee Dinesh Pai Kateel released a letter he had written to the Prime Minister and said that the committee had appraised him  about the dangers that the region will face due to the Chemicals storage and other environmental and public health hazards. 
The letter has asked the PM Dr. Manmohan  Singh to "drop the idea of having a SEZ or the PCPIR in Mangalore";  the letter has stated that if the PCPIR or the SEZ comes in Mangalore the industries would need an annual requirement of  8000 Metric Tonnes of Benzene in storage near Mangalore in the proposed petrochemical complex. "Benzene is internationally accepted chemical to have very high levels of toxicity in the case of even small doses" and highly carcinogenic in nature and a small leak also could lead to deadly diseases like leukemia. He said the city of Mangalore has been placed in the seismic zone III which meant that the city could be badly affected in the case of tectonic movements. The scientific experts have also pointed that the city could progressively move into the Seismic Zone IV in the years to come. When that is the projection for the city, it was a dangerous thing for the city to have huge storages of toxic chemicals like Benzene. 
Mr. Pai said the guidelines issued by the state Pollution Control Board (PCB) specifies that  no new mega industry could be established within 25 kilometers from a sensitive area and no new industries could be established within a city of population of more than 3 lakhs. "Mangalore qualifies in both the categories and hence the SEZ and its Petrochemical component PCPIR could not be established anywhere near Mangalore". 
The committee has also expressed apprehensions that the concept of Special Economic Zones took away the control of the government over the land and hand it over to the foreign investors which was nothing by an "alienation of India 's sovereignty". 
The letter has also appraised the Prime Minister that the ONGC had suggested that the use of the existing infrastructure be considered on the basis of mixed bonding since Mangalore Refineries and Petrochemicals (MRPL) has developed infrastructure such as tanks and pipelines. 
At present the SEZ rules do not provide for sharing of infrastructure. The letter asked the PM to note that the Petrochemical complex was an integrated up-gradation facility of the MRPL. This may lead to heavy revenue loss and consequently an adverse impact on the national economy.This Article is featured in Mangalorean.comwww.Mangalorean.com 
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