NGT forms committee to probe sea turning red in Puducherry

PUDUCHERRY: Taking suo motu cognizance of a news report on the sea turning red in Puducherry, the principal bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in New Delhi, formed a committee to ascertain the cause of change in colour and take remedial action.

The committee shall comprise a nominee of Central Pollution Control Board, Puducherry Pollution Control Committee and others. It shall visit the site, collect the present and previous samples to find out the reason, said NGT chairman Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member A Senthil Vel.

The committee shall complete the exercise within two months and submit a report to the Southern Zone bench of the tribunal, it said. The tribunal posted the case before the southern zone bench on January 8 for further hearing.

The other members of the committee include a nominee of the head of the Marine Biology Department of Pondicherry University and a nominated senior scientist by the director of the Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu. PPCC member secretary will act as the nodal agency.

PPCC member-secretary, who appeared virtually before the tribunal, said the sea turned red on October 16, October 24, and November 1 and added that the committee took samples on three occasions and analyzed the samples.

The member-secretary did not dispute that the cause of such incidents could be industrial pollution. He has also informed the tribunal that the Noctiluca genus of marine dinoflagellates contains red pigments due to which red tide occurs.


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