CHENNAI: The proposal to set up industries, including a tyre factory, in Thervoy Kandigai, Tiruvallur district, will have a serious impact on the village, affecting livelihood as well as posing threat to environment and water resources, according to an Environmental Assessment survey by Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS).
The interim report on ‘Environment and Social Impact Study of the Implementation of an Industrial Zone in Thervoy Village of Tamil Nadu’ by the multi-disciplinary team lead by Prof C Lakshmanan for a France-based NGO states that the “proposed industries will seriously impact the village nerve system and people’s land, agricultural, livelihood, sociocultural milieu and above all environmental degradation and groundwater depletion”.
The report is in contrast to the Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (Sipcot), which is silent on the disastrous repercussions of the proposed industrialisation, like complete cessation of agricultural and allied activities.
Set to open production units in the 1,127-acre land acquired in the area for Industrial Park, are four companies: French Tyre company Michelin (rechristened as Michelin India Tamil Nadu Tyres), Aluminium and Ferrous Alloy metal-maker Hunter Donglas India, Harsha Float Glass India and heavy engineering makers Harsha Exito Engineering.
The MIDS report says the Sipcot project will have a significant impact on the environment. “The land may not be suitable for cultivation, and water and soil resources would get polluted.
Forest resources would be lost further, and source of their supplementary food might be affected and get depleted. Medicinal plants and herbs would be lost forever.” The report states that in the last 10 years, the Forest Department approached the villagers expressing their desire to demarcate this land as Reserve Forest area. The villagers however stated during these occasions, that they would be able to take care of the forest lands themselves.
The report states that the industries will bring along hotels, restaurant and business centers which might require more land and resources. “Ultimately the people who live in the village at present would lose agriculture land, work and end-up selling their lands to the subsidiaries. This might create cultural environmental degradation and make the villagers economically dependent on others without dignity.”