Plight of Port Jatadhar in jeopardy
The steel-port-power complex is proposed in a region that is an ecologically sensitive area considering that it is here that the endangered Olive Ridleys nest and are spawning grounds for the equally endangered Horse Shoe Crabs.
THE CONUNDRUM of POSCO marches forward amidst the cartel of BJD government at the state and the Congress at the centre. Thousands of poor hapless men get sacrificed under the secret dealings of Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh. The agony of Jatadhara has intensified. It is port versus disaster.
The state government has permitted POSCO to build a port of its own near the Jatadhara river-mouth. The interests of the people of the state have been compromised at that river-mouth of Jatadhara. The state government has suppressed the report submitted by the experts on oceanography in which there is a warning about the danger that would befall the coastal environment of Orissa and the neighbouring ecosystem if the captive port of the POSCO is allowed to be constructed at the proposed river-mouth.
It would not be possible to keep account of the quantity of iron ores that would be exported by POSCO through that port which is to be built on the S.R.Z area. The chairman of the Paradip port has said that there is no obstacle in providing POSCO its own berth there. The central Ministry of Environment and Forests have also agreed to provide two berths of 10 million capacities each at the Paradip port. “In such a case, why the state government does allow POSCO to build a port of its own?” asks Prithviraj Harichandan, a young leader of the BJP.
The Paradip port has an annual transportation capacity of 65 million tons. Presently only 45 million tons of goods are being transported annually. It still has an unused capacity of 20 million tons. In such a case, why is POSCO being given permission to build a port for transporting its 12 million ton goods at a site which is only at a distance of 10 kms from the Paradip port? POSCO is a project with a capacity for producing 12 million tons.
Why should POSCO build a captive port with a capacity for transporting 60 million tons of goods? The state government has given permission to POSCO for 600 million tons of iron ores. If POSCO transports 60 million tons of goods annually it would loot 600 million ton iron ores within a span of only 10 years. “What legal steps have been taken by the central and the state governments in this regard?”, asks economist, Panchanan Kannungo.
There is a 9.3 kms sea beach at the proposed site for the captive port of POSCO near the Jatadhar area.50 percent of this sea beach which comes to about 4.8 kms of the seashore is extremely erosive. In its report regarding the captive port and S.R.Z, which the POSCO authorities had submitted during the last November, many salient issues have been knowingly and purposefully omitted. The expert investigation committee of the central ministry of environment and forests has expressed its concerns over this.
POSCO, in its report, has not taken into account the adverse impact upon the environment of the Jatadhar river-mouth region. So the central environmental ministry has directed POSCO for making a reassessment. On the other hand, during the last December, a directive was issued by the ministry that no construction work would be allowed at the sea beaches which are prone to erosion. Then how could Jairam give the green signal to the POSCO port project?
It has been an issue for hot discussions. Biswajit Mohanty, a well known environmentalist of the state, says, “The proposed port at Jatadhara would hinder the breeding process of the rare Olive Ridley turtles. At the mouth of the Devi river there remains the almost extinct breeding place of the Olive-Ridleys. The lights of the port would affect their life-styles. The villages of the interior regions would be in danger of being run over by sea water as a result of the loss of sands and trees at the site of the river-mouth. Construction of a port here would make the rare Olive Ridley sea-turtles extinct and endanger other rare species of the sea.”
Talking about building only a small port, POSCO now is going to build a port which would be able to handle 200 m long ships with a 170 thousand D.T.W capacity. The flood waters of Jagatsinghpur district is drained into the sea through the Jatadhara river-mouth. Construction of the proposed port would create artificial floods in the lower regions of the Jagatsinghpur district in which hundreds of human lives would be lost each year. Even a small port at Jatadhara would fill up the river mouth. As a result, the flood havoc would go on increasing in the lower regions during the coming years.
Without revealing his name a senior officer of the Jagatsinghpur district says, “A flood-like situation would arise when the forests are destroyed after the proposed port site levels out the sand valley”. Several environmental concerns including deforestation and destruction of coastal, riparian and estuarine ecosystems which will have impacts on the entire East coast in the long run were raised. The sea ingress as a result of forest loss is also an area of concern.
The Jatadhara river and the mouth are crucial to rain water drainage of the whole of Jagatsinghpur district.
Concerns have been raised time and again that if a port is built on the mouth, this natural drainage system will be adversely affected, resulting in increased siltation in the river, water logging and increased chances of floods.
BJD local leader and ex. minister Damodar Raut clearly raised a concern pointing out that "the SEZ [Special Economic Zone] status that has been granted to the project (principle approval has been granted by the Ministry of Commerce) would deprive the government of taxes and pose a threat to security of the country considering the location of the project which has also been highlighted by the Home Ministry." He said that he was in support of the project without the SEZ status.
It was pointed out that initially, the Paradip Port authority as well as TR Balu, central Minister for Shipping, Raod Transport and Highways and former Chairman of the Cochin Port Trust had raised concerns about the captive port affecting the business of the government port at Paradip.
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