Meta Strips controversy deepens

| 21 August 1999 10:17 IST

The controversy over allegedly pollutant project of Meta Strips coming up in Goa is getting more intricate while the state government has now referred the matter to the central pollution control board for review.

The project worth Rs 250 crore owned by Sushil Khaitan, coming up with a Spanish collaboration on a hillock near the port town of Vasco, is being opposed by the locals of Sancoale and other surrounding villages on the grounds of air, noise and water pollution.

As the issue is getting aggravated on the eve of forthcoming elections, chief minister Luizinho Faleiro has rejected the demand of villagers to conduct official public hearing. Instead, he offers to hold a public debate between the company officials and the agitators and local environmentalists.

The Anti Meta Strips Citizens Action Committee however wonders why Faleiro is running away from holding the debate officially, if the government is at no fault in approving the project. "There need not be any apprehension now as the CPCB report would be totally independent, impartial and fair in nature", says the chief minister.

While it is clear that he is simply trying to delay the matter due to elections, Faleiro does not want to commit anything on reviewing the permission granted for the project by the government in 1997. On the contrary, he expresses total ignorance over the foul play in approval which is coming to light.

With M K Jos, a social activist, approaching the high court over the issue, it has come to light that the government had actually approved the project proposal of Nashik Wires Ltd two years ago. While changing its name to Meta Strips subsequently, the company even changed its project report drastically.

The major change was regarding the daily water requirement, the quantity of which is now raised from seven lakh litres to 40 lakh litres. The state PWD authorities have now told the court that they are unable to meet the fresh requirement due to short of water supply. The PWD has already requested the company to revert back to the original requirement, which was approved earlier.

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