CHENNAI: Fearing livelihood loss and environmental hazards, the Pulicat fishermen requested the State and Central Governments not to give permission for the proposed expansion of the Adani Port, which got its ‘Terms of Reference’ recently.
Amid torrential rains on Wednesday, hundreds of fishermen from Pulicat, Lighthouse, and Thangal Perumbalam; nearby fishing hamlets, hit the streets to condemn the Rs.53,000 crore project, which involves converting large tracts of wetlands and waterbodies for industrial use.
‘‘The ‘Terms of Reference’ has been granted without completely taking the fishermen’s livelihood and fishing spaces into account,’’ alleged M Jayabal, fishermen, who lead the protests.
He said that the fishermen’s livelihood has been in jeopardy ever since industries kept a foot in the sensitive fishing zones.
‘‘The industries convince fishermen by offering them jobs but it’s a farce. Fishermen are treated harshly and they’re given jobs like carpeting and plumbing for menial wages between Rs. 100 and 300, that too irregularly,’’ added Jayabal.
Ramesh V, another fisherman, said that if the port expansion comes to fruition, fishermen will be pushed away from the coast. "About 50,000 families in the Tiruvallur district are dependent on Pulicat
waterbodies for a livelihood. If the people living near the coast are alienated, we will have to travel farther to reach the shores," he said.
"From parking boats to transporting catch, it causes many problems for fishermen," he added.
Apart from livelihood, the environmental impact is manyfold.
Environmental activist Pooja Kumar told Express that ecological destruction and impact on water-security are two major consequences of the port expansion.
‘‘The port expansion will trigger coastal erosion on the northern side. This can also cause human-induced acceleration of seawater level rise, which is harmful to the islands in Pulicat,’’ she said.
‘‘Secondly, the Pulicat waterbodies help to sustain an agrarian economy and provides freshwater, including Chennai. Industrialization will cause a threat to Chennai’s water-security,’’ she said.
Express in July reported about the sub-committee report of the port-expansion, which said that the Pulicat system in the north of Kattupalli port, Ennore Creek in the south and Buckingham canal on the west have been designated as ecologically sensitive areas and placed under CRZ-1 (critical for maintaining the ecosystem of the coast).
The committee had also recommended a detailed study on the impact of the port expansion on Ennore shoals, which protects the coast from cyclone and tsunami.