KOCHI: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed an appeal by the LPG Virudha Janakeeya Samara Samithi leaders against an order of the National Green Tribunal refusing to interfere with the extension of environment clearance for the Indian Oil Corporation's LPG import terminal at Puthuvype. Earlier, the IOCL had obtained its EC extended for another three years as it could not complete the project within the original term due to the ongoing agitation of the action council.
The appeal was rejected because the protestors could not offer any reason for not filing the appeal within the time stipulated under the NGT Act. Though the advocate for the Samara Samithi leaders argued to set aside the NGT order, the apex court was unconvinced. The court verbally observed that the project is important for the country and that what is being challenged is only the extension of the EC for an ongoing project.
Mr K.K Venugopal, attorney-general, who appeared for the IOCL, told the court that no work of the project could be done since February 2017 due to the obstruction created by the agitators. The public sector oil major is stated to be incurring a loss of about Rs. 1 crore a day on account of the delay caused due to the agitation. Apart from meeting the steadily increasing LPG demand, the project envisages to minimise LPG transportation by road and reduce the accidents involving LPG tanker lorries.
