In a letter to the Union Minister of Environment and Forests Suresh Prabhu today, the Save Bombay Committee (SBC) has pointed out that the proposed terminal, which is expected to handle 15 to 20 million tonnes a year of unspecified hazardous chemicals, has been conceptualised without public debate and adequate disaster management procedures.

The JNPT officials have informally stated that the proposed terminal has received all necessary clearances including those from the Environment Ministry. This necessitated a clarification from the ministry because it is a project of such huge dimensions.

``No government would permit a project where the project owner can play with any of the 65,000 chemical substances without knowing the risks they pose and the effect of substances coming in contact with each other,'' stated the SBC letter.

The letterfollows a detailed objections note sent to the minister on January 7 this year. Prabhu had apparently forwarded it to the ``concerned department for necessary action''. However, the SBC has not heard from any department so far while JNPT officials claim to have secured all clearances. The JNPT will not operate the facility but will contract it to a private enterprise that promises it the maximum profits.

There can be a hazardous chemical terminal for say five chemicals if the port management is fully aware of the disaster management procedures and emergency measures to be taken in case of spills and accidents but it's non-viable that a terminal can handle thousands of unspecified chemicals, the SBC letter stated adding that this is the dangerous aspect of the project.

``Profits of thousands of crores will put lives of many thousand innocent people in jeopardy; it's another Bhopal in the making,'' SBC president Kisan Mehta said. The JNPT expects an annual profit of Rs 2500 crore from the terminal. ``Toderive maximum profit, the JNPT has diluted the qualifications for private entrepreneurs to participate in the tenders,'' according to Mehta.

The proposed terminal would also endanger mangroves and ecology of the Thane Creek since it necessitates the reclamation of nearly 200 hectares in the creek region, the SBC letter said. There is no example in the world where a chemical terminal has been set up to handle unspecified but hazardous chemicals; the implications of such a project should be made public, it added. ``We cannot understand how the Government of India, and more particularly the Environment Ministry, can allow such a project in the midst of the most congested human settlement,'' said Mehta.