Following the TNPCB's announcement of the public hearing date for the Kattupalli Port expansion project, local communities and environmentalists unite to oppose the controversial plan.
Published Aug 10, 2023 | 11:00 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 10, 2023 | 7:42 PM
Fishermen of Pulicat celebrate their annual festival by the beach. (Laasya Shekhar/South First)
At Gunankuppam, a small coastal hamlet in Tiruvallur district, R Bharath is busy meeting villagers after the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) announced the date of the public hearing for the Kattupalli Port expansion project — 5 September 2023.
On Thursday, 10 August, Tiruvallur Collector Alby John announced that the public hearing had been postponed indefinitely.
However, Bharath continued, and explained the power of citizen action to effect change and the villagers’ promise that they will not go fishing and show up for the hearing that day.
Bharath doesn’t have to convince the fishermen about the implications of the project as they are deeply aware. It is their awareness that reportedly forced the TNPCB to cancel the public hearing in January 2021, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.
R Bharath from Gunankuppam village in Tiruvallur district. (Supplied)
But why is the port expansion project causing angst among all sections of people? How would the project affect the coastal biodiversity?
What does the revised Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), a tool that assesses the implications of the project socially, economically, and environmentally — submitted by Adani Ports and the SEZ’s subsidiary Marine Infrastructure Development Private Ltd to the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) — say?
We delve into the matter.
According to the EIA accessed by South First, the proposal sought to expand Kattupalli Port from 330 acres to 6,111 acres.
If you are wondering where Adani Ports would find thousands of acres in the tightly-knit fishermen hamlets of Tiruvallur, here is the answer: 2,000 acres of land would be created by dumping dredged sand into the sea — the part of Bay of Bengal that is a source of livelihood for nearly one lakh fishermen. To do so, dredged sand from the Palar river basin, along with sea sand, would be used.
Another 3,200 acres of land that has been classified as poramboke (waste) wetlands would be used for the project. The waste wetlands in the revenue documents are the marsh land that drains the excess flood water into the sea and the salt pans of the Pulicat lake — the second-largest brackish water ecosystem in the country.
Open spaces belonging to private properties will make up for the rest of the 6,111 acres.
However, Adani Ports’ EIA mentions many perks: Creation of 1,500 direct and 4,500 indirect employment opportunities for the fishermen, and infrastructural development of the region.
The coast of Tamil Nadu is fast eroding, according to a study by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), an arm of the Ministry of Earth Sciences. Kattupalli coast, where the port is to be expanded, is one of the 22 erosion hotspots of Tamil Nadu, as per the NCCR map from the period 1990-2018.
A memorandum issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forests in November 2009 clearly prohibits the construction of ports in high eroding zones.
“With regard to the hotspots stretches viz. those areas which are prone for high erosion above 1 metre per year (identified by the concerned Central/State Government agencies), locations identified within 10 km on either side of the eco-sensitive areas categorised as Coastal Regulation Zone-I(i) and water bodies with high bio-diversity, shall not be considered for locating ports and harbours,” states the memorandum accessed by South First.
Ironically, according to Adani Ports’ EIA, the coast where the project is proposed is eroding at 8.6 m/year due to the existing ports.
“Why is the government of Tamil Nadu holding a public hearing for a project that is prima facie illegally cited? The principal bench of the National Green Tribunal, in April 2022, followed up on the memorandum and directed all the states should mark high and low eroding zones on the coastal zone management plan to ensure clearances are not given for port expansions,” environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman told South First.
The port will have a drastic effect not just in the Tiruvallur district but also in Chennai — the city that depends on the water reserves from here.
Ennore-Pulicat wetlands are a victim of industrialisation for more than three decades. (Laasya Shekhar/ South First)
“Chennai gets 200 million litres of water per day (MLD) from the Arani-Kosasthalaiyar river basin and Minjur desalination plant. The salinity intrusion that happens due to dredging of the sand will turn this water salty,” said Vishvaja Sambath, a volunteer with the Chennai Climate Action Group (CCAG), a youth-led environmental justice collective fighting the expansion project.
It is worth noting that the Adani Port’s EIA admits to high risk of flooding and coastal erosion — a consequence of the port construction.
Additionally, Sambath said that the proposed port, which would be just 2.1 km from the boundary of the Pulicat bird sanctuary, is a direct violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
“Developmental projects such as this should be 10 km away from the sanctuary,” she said.
The 2,000 acres of sea that the project aims to reclaim consists of multiple breeding zones for crabs and many different varieties of prawns that Pulicat is known for. As the catch would definitely decline, the project leaves the livelihood of fishermen at peril.
The poramboke lands that Adani Ports aim to claim for the project have always been a source for cattle-rearing, as well as farming and drying the fish.
“For generations, we have been relying on the sea to eke out a living. There are days where I would earn ₹3,000 a day. The three ports that are already in the district polluted our waters. We do not need a new one to make it worse,” Bharath told South First.
Quoting 2020 data from the Ministry of Shipping, environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman tweeted, “Adani’s proposal to set up a mega port capable of handling 320 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) makes no business sense as the existing major ports in Tamil Nadu put together have a total cargo handling capacity of 253.9 MTPA.”
In other words, 55 percent of the existing port capacity in Tamil Nadu is lying idle, he posted.
தேவையற்ற திட்டம்
TN-இன் துறைமுகங்களின் மொத்த சரக்கு கையாளும் திறன் 254 மில்லியன் டன் (mtpa). 2019-20-இல் கையாளப்பட்டது 115 mtpa – தற்போதுள்ள துறைமுக திறனில் 55% சும்மாதான் கிடக்கிறது. அதானியின் 320 mtpa போர்ட் சாத்தியம் அடைய வேண்டும் என்றால், இருக்கும் துறைமுகங்களை மூடுவது அவசியம pic.twitter.com/Puk4U1nhVh— NityanandJayaraman (@NityJayaraman) August 8, 2023
Through art, media, and legal support, the Chennai Climate Action Group and other environmental groups are mobilising communities on the ground. They are also conducting awareness sessions for college students to be the voice of change in the public hearing.
“I have a feeling that the government will not go ahead with the public hearing, considering the opposition from the people,” Bharath said.
The Adani Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the Adani Group that is all about “growth with goodness” is trying hard to change the perspective of the villagers by taking up developmental activities in the villages of Tiruvallur district.
For the past three years, the Adani Foundation has brought tractors to village panchayats, got new iceboxes to the fishermen to store fish, and has constructed new roads. But this doesn’t change anything on the ground, said villagers.
“We would still be against the port expansion project,” Sundari G, a fisherwomen, told South First.
