CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government is planning to denotify a sizeable area of the Pulicat bird sanctuary. Patta land in 13 revenue villages located inside the biodiversity-rich area may be excluded from the sanctuary after completing the claim process under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, sources said.
Just days before the Lok Sabha elections Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into effect, the Tiruvallur district collector had issued a draft notification on February 29 regarding settlement of claims for patta lands that are to be denotified. People were asked to submit a written claim for the land in the prescribed form within two months.
The timing of the move has raised concerns as it would clear major hurdles for the controversial Adani-Kattupalli port expansion whose northern boundary will fall outside the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) when the Pulicat bird sanctuary area is reduced. It may exempt the project from needing clearance from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). Environmentalists and local fishermen have been voicing concerns against the expansion of Kattupalli port because of its potential threat to the bird sanctuary and the proposed acquisition of hundreds of acres of wetlands.
Senior officials of the state forest department told TNIE, “In 1980, the state government brought the bird sanctuary under Section 18 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. But it was not a final notification. The sanctuary’s boundary was not demarcated till now. As per the Act, final notification must be issued under Section 26(A). It can be done only after the collector settles the claims of the affected people and that process is now on.” The forest official said private patta lands can’t be declared as sanctuary. Either the government should acquire those lands or they must be exempted.
‘Pulicat is natural habitat for migratory, water birds’
On the question of ESZ, he said after the final notification with a defined boundary, the ESZ will be calculated based on the zone of influence.
“The current default 10 km ESZ will cease to exist,” he said and when this happens the environmentalists say it will directly benefit Adani.
The district collector issued the notification on February 29 and an advertisement was published in a Tamil daily on March 3. The collector along with forest officials convened a meeting on March 7 at the district collectorate for people from all 13 revenue villages.
Durai Mahendran, general secretary, Tiruvallur District Traditional United Fishermen Association, requested the government to not hurry the claim settlement process till the MCC is lifted. “The fishermen are clueless about the process and there are thousands of them in these 13 villages. Also, the government should not reduce the sanctuary size, which would help industrialisation.”
M Yuvan, a Chennai-based environmentalist, said Pulicat is hydrologically and ecologically connected with the Ennore Creek, backwaters and Kosasthalaiyar River and all these parts of the river basin need utmost protection.
“Migratory and water birds use this entire region as a habitat. We have sighted large congregations of waders and even Pelicans nesting even outside the ESZ of the sanctuary. In the process of redefining the sanctuary’s boundaries, it is crucial that the ESZ is maintained, or logically even extended so that the whole watershed and the bird habitat is protected and comes under the conservation plan,” he said.
“Reduction of the ESZ will allow detrimental industrial projects like the Kattupalli port expansion to erode the lagoon sand bar, and wipe out the entire hydrology of Pulicat,” he added.