Report by OD bureau; Dhamra: The public hearing on environment impact assessment for  Second Phase expansion of Dhamra Port was held by the Odisha State Pollution Control Board in Dosinga village, near the port on Tuesday. The public hearing continued for more than four hours and passed on peacefully.

Regional Officer of SPCB AK Chatterjee conducted the public hearing in which Collector and District Magistrate of Bhadrak AK Pani presided. Various issues relating to surrounding environment of the port, marine life and livelihood improvement of the local fishing communities were discussed during the public hearing.

Dhamra Port completed its first year of commercial operation on May 6, 2012 and it was formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on December 18, 2011. In the first phase the port has built two fully mechanised berths with a capacity of nearly 20 million tonnes per annum.  In the expansion phase the port has a Master Plan to build 11 more berths which will increase to port capacity to nearly 100 million tonnes per annum.

In the public hearing two local MLAs Bijoyshree Routray and Bijay Nayak were present along with senior officials of the district administration, police and SPCB.  Chief Executive Officer of DPCL Santosh Kumar Mohapatra replied to various queries raised during the public hearing relating to environment protection measures and periphery development by the company.

It was informed by the DPCL authorities that in the second phase expansion around Rs 50 cr will be earmarked for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) expenditure.