NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The pontoon ‘Bhageerath-I’ that ran aground on Arossim beach last month will be cut and removed under the supervision of Captain of Ports (CoP) and MPT, officials in the know have revealed. The pontoon is obstructing fishing activities and is also detrimental to the ecology.
Meanwhile, referring to the navigation map prepared by National Hydrographic Office at Dehradun, a CoP official said that the coast upto nine nautical miles comes under its jurisdiction and covers area from Aguada plateau upto Raj Bhavan towards the coast and so the pontoon is not under its limits. MPT claims that the pontoon does not come under its jurisdiction and in fact is around 500 metres outside its limit, and comes in the jurisdiction of district collector.
A CoP official told this daily that even though the area where pontoon has run aground neither falls in the jurisdiction of CoP nor MPT but still the work will be carried out efficiently under the immediate supervision of both CoP and MPT adding, “We are now waiting for the collector’s direction, who will soon take a call based on the common report to be submitted by the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) assessing the damage to the environment due to the cutting down.”
It has been also learnt from sources that the owner of the vessel Arihant Ship Breakers will be asked to bear the cost involved in cutting the pontoon and to pay for the damages if any caused to the environment.
Environment protection agencies of the state government have ruled out the possibilities of towing away the vessel as it has developed holes.
Sources in the tourism department said that a permission was obtained by Arihant for beach wedding party but it was organised onboard the floating pontoon which was brought from Old Goa to Arossim without taking permission from the CoP, which is a pre-requisite.
CoP had last week issued a 15-day show cause notice and also issued letter to Sanjeev Jain, owner of Arihant Ship Breakers under the Inland Vessels Act, 1917 to appear before it for personal hearing.