By IANS
Kolkata : A 15-member team from the Geological Survey of India (GSI) Wednesday visited Nayachar, the new site of the proposed chemical hub in West Bengal, to carry out a feasibility study there.
The team, comprising an official of the rank of a magistrate, will study the island’s ‘carrying capacity’ and would also ascertain if the project would have an adverse ecological impact on the newly selected site.
The study, to be conducted by GSI, will be the first scientific study at Nayachar, about 150 km from Kolkata. GSI had earlier mapped the island in 1985 but the survey was not as comprehensive.
Sources said the morphological and techno-scientific study will help to ascertain the quality and nature of the soil, its age, and whether the soil can take the load of a huge chemical hub.
Nayachar, a 40 sq km island on the Hooghly river in East Midnapore district, has been selected as the likely place for the chemical hub that was originally to be set up at Nandigram.
But violent protests against the land acquisition plan for the project forced the government to shift the proposed hub elsewhere.
Last week, a six-member GSI team, led by deputy director Biplab Mukherjee, also met officials from the fisheries and commerce and industries departments of government of West Bengal.