THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ghost of the alleged Rs 250 crore waste treatment plant scam of the Travancore Titanium Products Limited (TTPL) has once again come to haunt Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.Two letters written by him to the Chairman of the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee G Thyagarajan in April 2005 and January 2006 have surfaced in which Chandy, the then CM, urged for extension of time to carry out necessary pollution abatement measures in TTPL and assured that there won’t be any slippages in carrying out the project. A case pertaining to this is already in the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court.The letters in circulation after the telecast by a private TV channel on Monday show the undue haste with which the Chief Minister carried out the project even before the clearance for it was given by the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).The first letter written on April 23, 2005, was in the backdrop of the KSPCB issuing notice to the TTPL to close down within a week for not meeting the board norms, which was to expire on April 26, 2005.In the letter, Chandy has raised concern regarding the closure of the factory.“The closure of the factory, if not avoided, will create enormous problems as it would affect the future operations of the factory, particularly since the company is currently executing a number of prestigious export orders with very tight delivery schedule. It would also affect the direct employment of more than 1,250 workers,” the letter said and requested Thyagarajan to intervene and grant time till April 16, 2006 in consonance with the time limit prescribed by the High Court.“On the part of the state government, I assure you that a system of close monitoring of the project will be introduced specifically in this particular case to ensure that the slippages in the project schedule are avoided,” Chandy said. In the second letter dated January 5, 2006, Chandy said that as per the project proposal by the Travancore Sulphates Limited (TSL), they are confident of completing the project within 12 months and requested for extension by a year. “They are confident that the neutralisation plant could be completed and for the acid recovery and copperas recovery plants, all civil and structural works and erection of most of the machinery could be completed within next 12 months,” the letter said.“The state govt will be taking necessary steps to ensure that TTPL adheres to the time schedule allowed by the Supreme Court Monitoring Committee. A high-level committee of government secretaries has already been constituted to monitor and facilitate the implementation of the project,” it said.The DeficienciesAs per the recommendations of an internal committee on May 1998, whichconsidered the project proposal, a neutralisation plant alone with a meagreinvestment of Rs 10.81 crore was sufficient to meet the requirements of KSPCBand court orders and copperas recovery plant (CRP), acid recovery plant (ARP) requiring foreign technology and huge investment was to be taken up later. The company was aware of the fact that installation of CRP and ARP was notadvisable due to lack of market and higher investments in view of foreignexchange component. Still both the plants were proposed at a huge investment of `82.44 crore on the ground that neutralisation plant alone was suited only to small manufacturers.The company should have met the immediate requirement of pollution control through neutralisation plant and taken up ARP/CRP later.The company proceeded with effluent treatment plant without obtaining firm commitment from financial institutions for loans resulting in delay and uncertainty in completion of the project.
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