Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group company, said it has received directions from Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) to stop the activity of the metallurgical coke plant expansion.

The said order from the pollution control board was due to two incidents of soot emissions owing to misfiring by two high capacity burners during commissioning of second battery of its metallurgical coke plant on August 17 and 18, said the company in a statement.

The company has intimated GSPCB that the root cause of the soot emissions were immediately addressed and necessary corrective actions have already been taken, Sesa Goa said.

The pollution control board direction comes after thousands of villagers from Navelim in Bicholim taluka of Goa observed a day-long bandh on Monday against Sesa Goa’s metallurgical coke plant in the village, claiming that it is polluting their surroundings.

Sesa Goa commissioned the third blast furnace on August 17, making its pig iron plant the largest producer of low phosphorous pig iron in the country.

The installed capacity of the pig iron plant was increased to 0.625 million tonnes (mt) a year from 0.250 mt a year.

The company has also expanded the metallurgical coke capacity from 0.28 mt a year to 0.56 mt a year.

Shares of the company were down five per cent at Rs 173 on Wednesday.

suresh.iyengar@thehindu.co.in

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