Ennore Creek levelled sans clearance: Activists

“At least 500 acres have already been levelled in preparation for a railway yard, a free trade warehouse zone and a coal yard. The project, which claims to be part of the prestigious Sagarmala scheme, does not have an environmental clearance from the Union ministry of environment or consent to establish from the TNPCB,” environmentalist Nityanand Jayaraman of Save Ennore Creek Campaign.

Leading a media team to sites of ongoing and unlicensed encroachment of Ennore wetlands by Kamarajar port, Jayaraman blamed the TNPCB, State Coastal Zone Management Authority and the Thiruvallur district administration of turning a blind eye to violation by state and central public sector companies. “Kamarajar Port has invited bids to appoint environmental consultants for the development of CEU last month but already they started work to landfill the wetlands,” said Pooja Kumar of Coastal Resource Centre.

In the tender, Kamarajar Port stated that it has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited to prepare a master plan for the development of the North Tamil Nadu Coastal Employment Unit and assist the port through the process of its development. “KPL will also pursue the development of salt land for a larger contiguous Industrial Park around the port,” it stated.

The tender also said, “An area measuring 322 acres was identified in the Port Land Use Plan for the development of the Coastal Employment Unit at Kamarajar Port. The consultants have developed a draft a master plan for the CEU and will assist KPL in promoting the park by developing a branding and marketing strategy.”

The western edges of Ennore-Pazhaverkadu wetlands are an important natural defence infrastructure against seawater intrusion into the rich groundwater resources of Araniyar Kosasthalaiyar Basin. At present, the Chennai city draws more than 100 million litres a day of water from the well fields in the basin. “Ennore Creek was a tidal wetland with salt marshes. It is a unique flood plain that could retain water, protecting the inland groundwater resources from salinity intrusion,” said Prof S Janakarajan, a water resource expert.

He said that if such encroachments continue in the Ennore Creek, areas that have never experienced saltwater ingress are at risk of severe salinisation.