Amid vehement opposition to the construction of Rs76,220 crore Vadhvan port in Palghar's Dahanu taluka, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) has announced that a public hearing will be held on the issue on December 21. Local fishing communities and green activists have dubbed the mega project as an ecological disaster in waiting.
JNPA sends public hearing notice to authorities
People can raise objections and give suggestions during the public hearing which will be conducted by the Pollution Control Committee of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu union territory. “We have sent the public hearing notice to the Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority, which has already given the clearance for the greenfield port. The suggestions and objections, once received from the people, will be sent to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. It will then decide about giving final environmental clearance to the project,” said a JNPA official.
JNPA signed MoU worth Rs 20,000 crore
For the construction of the port, JNPA had signed a memorandum of understanding worth Rs 20,000 crore with global logistics operator DP World at the Global Maritime India Summit held in Mumbai. JNPA Chairman Sanjay Sethi had said that the Vadhvan port will be able to handle almost 24 million twenty-foot equivalent unit (measuring unit for cargo capacity), finding its way among the top 10 such ports in the world.Stating that it's an offshore port that goes inside the sea for about five-and-a-half km, Sethi had also pointed out that there are many environmental concerns that need to be taken care of.
'Growth of mangroves to affect tidal flow'
NatConnect Foundation Director B N Kumar expressed the apprehension that the “killing” of mangroves and terrestrial forests to make way for the port will disturb the area's ecological balance. “The dredging will lead to heavy siltation, which in turn, will give rise to mangroves. This extra growth of mangroves is bound to hamper the tidal flow leading to flooding of low-lying areas,” he averred.
Small Scale Traditional Fish Workers Union President Nandakumar Pawar said there is no monitoring regarding dumping the silt after dredging. This has already proved to be disastrous, he said, pointing out that the Gavan village in the JNPA’s neighbourhood, has been heavily silted, adversely impacting movement of fishing boats. “It's sad that the planners of such mega projects don't realise the perils of playing with nature. Worse, we don't learn lessons from previous disasters,” Pawar added.
