CHENNAI: Nearly 30 youth organisations from across Chennai organised a ‘March for the Marshlands’ on Saturday morning, calling for the protection of the city’s wetlands and urging the state government to reconsider the proposed Mamallan Reservoir project.
The protesters alleged that the land identified for the reservoir is part of a wetland ecosystem and said the project would severely affect the livelihoods of fishing communities dependent on it. They demanded that the government halt the project and commission an independent scientific assessment before taking any further steps.
Narayanan, a fisherman from Kovalam, said the wetlands should not be viewed as vacant land for development. “These are living ecosystems that protect coastal communities and cities alike. Destroying them in the name of climate resilience is both scientifically unsound and morally indefensible,” he said.
Wetland researcher Prashanth J said the Mamallan project reflected a wider pattern of environmental degradation affecting wetlands across Chennai. The Ennore-Pulicat wetlands continue to be sacrificed in the name of industrialisation, Pallikaranai Marsh in the name of commercialisation, and now the Mamallan wetlands in the name of climate resilience and drinking water security. It is fishing communities, Irulars, Dalits and other marginalised groups that bear the environmental and economic costs while the benefits flow elsewhere,” he said.
Benisha B M, one of the organisers, said the proposal had become a crucial environmental test for the TVK government. She alleged that converting a tidal marsh into a freshwater reservoir and blocking the Buckingham Canal would irreversibly damage the ecosystem.