EC received, JNPA awaits cabinet clearance

With the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) receiving the environmental clearance (EC) for the proposed port at Vadhavan in Dahanu taluka of Palghar district, the authorities were contemplating to perform bhoomipujan and begin the construction. However, they are still waiting for clearance from the Centre to commence the work, which is unlikely before the general elections are over.

“Now with the announcement of general elections and model code of conduct in place, we are left with no option but to wait till the formation of the next government which will then clear the project,” a senior JNPA official said not wishing to be named.

“We have received minutes of the meeting held on February 6, which was attended by the officials from the ministry, the EAC members, officials from the Ministry of

Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) as well as JNPA. The meeting decided to give the EC for the mega port. Accordingly, we received the clearance on February 16,” the official said.

Before giving the clearance, the Environment Advisory Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) had conducted a hearing on the issue after the residents, most of them belonging to the fishermen community, raised concerns about the construction.

Stating that the hearing on January 19 was held in a wrong manner, the villagers said that despite being original inhabitants of the area, they were not given sufficient time to speak and demanded that another hearing be held impartially and transparently. The authorities, however, refuted all the claims and rejected another hearing in the matter.

JNPA appointed IDBI Capital Markets and Securities Ltd as the transaction advisor to raise funds for the Vadhvan Port.

Villagers say they were not given time to speak and demanded that another hearing be held transparently; authorities deny another hearing