LOK SABHA
Shri Dilipkumar
Mansukhlal Gandhi, Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping
in a written reply to Dr. Charan Das Mahant in Lok Sabha today
has stated that as per directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court,
the Ministry of Environment & Forest had set up an Inquiry
Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri A.C. Wadhawan, Ex-Chairman,
Hindustan Zinc Limited. The Committee submitted its report in
July, 2002. The Writ Petition No. 657 of 1995 is still pending
before the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The report inter-alia has
made following observations with regard to missing imported
containers full of hazardous substances.
Inquiry Committee
found that except in case of Mumbai Port Trust and (Inland Container
Depot (ICD) Bangalore, revised figures for the stocks lying
at various Ports/ICDs/CFSs have been furnished. The reasons
cited for revising the figures from what was reported earlier
in the report of the High Powered Committee (HPC), headed by
Prof. M.G.K. Menon are non-availability of old records due o
their manual upkeep at ICD, Tughlakabad and Kandla Port Trust
(since computerized), errors in the computation of number of
containers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Nhava Sheva, and
lack of awareness in the beginning at respective Ports/ICDs/CFSs
as to what precisely constitutes hazardous wastes as explained
at Kolkata Port Trust.
Kandla Port
Trust furnished revised figures with the explanation that earlier
figures were based on the general description of cargo as mentioned
in the ImportGeneral Manifest (IGM) by the shipping agents without
confirmation from the Commissioner of Customs, Kandla who is
the competent authority to classify cargo as hazardous wastes
or otherwise.
Respective
authorities at Ports/ICDs/CFSs continued to release imported
consignments of zinc ash/skimmings. Lead scrap, waste oil, etc.,
on the basis of EXIM Policy brought out by the Directorate General
of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in accordance with the Foreign Trade
(Development and Regulation) Act, 1992. Chennai and Kandla Port
Trust also reported release of waste oil as per the directions
issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (Department
of Revenue) dated 17.10.1997 to clear the congestion at respective
ports.
Authorities
at Container Freight Station (CFS), Ludhiana reported release
of large consignments of waste oil (2,334 containers containing
41,425 MT waste oil and 16,748 drums containing waste oil) in
accordance with the orders of the Haryana and Punjab High Court
under writ petition filed by individual importers. Kandla Port
Trust authorities reported release of ISRI-grade waste material
like zinc scrap (6902.929 MT), lead scrap (45961.195 MT) and
battery scrap (4657.08 MT) being free for import without any
restriction under EXIM Policy.
As far as the
illegal import of 133 containers containing waste oil is concerned,
the Minister stated these were seized at Nhava Sheva Port, District
Raigarh, Maharashtra. The Department of Customs and Maharashtra
Pollution Control Board have initiated legal action against
the importers of seized containers.
