CHENNAI: In what appears to be a blatant violation of coastal laws, the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has flattened out a vast stretch of the beach at Foreshore Estate, a prime Olive Ridley turtle nesting site, by dumping tonnes of construction debris to facilitate idol immersion after Vinayagar Chathurthi festival.
When TNIE visited the beach on Monday evening, GCC trucks and earthmovers were found unloading tonnes of rubble and levelling it into a hardened surface for heavy vehicles to carry giant idols for immersion, which happens a few days after the festival on Wednesday.
As per the approved Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP), the site is a prime Olive Ridley turtle nesting ground, classified as CRZ-IA—the highest category of ecological protection. Dumping debris here is a gross violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2011, which prohibits any activity that alters the beach profile or damages nesting grounds.
It is noteworthy that Tamil Nadu witnessed an unprecedented spike in Olive Ridley deaths in the last season, prompting the government to announce a “marine elite force” to patrol nearshore waters and curb illegal trawling. Measures were also initiated to monitor the beaches, where the turtles come to nest.
When TNIE enquired with GCC staff and police at the site, they were nonchalant in admitting that the dumping was being done for the immersion of the idols. “The debris will be cleared after the event is over,” one of them said.
However, local fishermen said that the damage cannot be reversed. “Once the sand is hardened with rubble and flattened by machines, the beach can never return to its natural state. The turtles will simply stop coming,” warned fisherman leader K Saravanan.
Pointing out that the Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasised that religious rights cannot override environmental laws and that the CRZ notification makes no allowance for temporary dumping, Saravanan said, “If idol immersion is permitted, it must be carried out without violating other laws. The government cannot break one law to uphold a tradition. During previous years, iron plates used to be laid out on the beach, and a crane was brought from the Chennai port to pick the idols from the road and immerse them in the sea.”
Fishermen leader Bharathi has filed a case before the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which has admitted the matter and issued notices to GCC and Tamil Nadu Coastal Zone Management Authority. On Tuesday, the bench orally directed GCC to stop dumping further debris and posted the case for August 29.
However, TNIE confirmed that the work was underway even on Tuesday evening, despite NGT asking the government counsel to stop the work earlier in the day.
Photographs filed before the tribunal showed how the debris now stretched up to the high tide line, directly on the nesting zone. “This is not a small patch, but a wide swathe of beach flattened to allow lorries. The damage is irreversible,” said Bharathi.
When contacted, Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests, said she would ask GCC Commissioner J Kumaragurubaran to take immediate action. TNIE’s attempts to reach Kumaragurubaran over call and text until 7 pm on Tuesday were futile.