Activists on Wednesday, July 31, slammed the granting of Terms of Reference (ToR) for the expansion of the Kattuppalli port by the Adani Group’s Marine Infrastructure Developers Pvt. Ltd. (MIDPL).
The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment had early this month recommended granting ToR for the project with a large number of conditions. This, despite a sub-committee of the EAC report stating that the north coast near Kattupalli village was under severe erosion and the southern coast of Ennore was witnessing accretion (attributable to breakwater) after the construction of the Ennore port. A tidal creek, some 2.8 km away, was also silting up rapidly causing concern to nearby power plants drawing cooling water from it, the report had pointed out.
At a press conference organised by the Save Ennore Creek Campaign, retired Madras High Court judge Hariparanthaman said, “The EAC should not have granted the ToR. Forget the stage of the Environmental Impact Assessment, even the ToR should be cancelled,” he said.
