The Hindu Business Line : Will these turtles survive?

A LATE evening, some months ago, one released a new born Oliver Riddley turtle into the Arabian Sea. Vivek Bendre and myself felt sad as the chick struggled with the waves before getting lost. He will be growing up (if predators do not snap him up) alone as the mother turtle does not go beyond laying eggs in a hole on a sandy beach.

That moment will always be with this writer. But will Oliver Ridley turtles be around? They may not be, if the Orissa Government continues to okay steel and bauxite projects in the State.

Most of them could be accessing the Dhamra and other ports, opening into the sea lanes (Bay of Bengal) used by the Oliver Riddley turtles. Tata Steel has been taking the initiative to study the area around the Dhamra Port Project.

In a detailed e-mail, Sanjay Choudhry, Chief Press Relations Officer, Tata Steel, informed this paper that "Tata Steel has been having a dialogue with different environment groups partly to enlighten them on the truth about the port location vis-à-vis the turtle nesting area (many of them indeed did not know the actual location of the port which is sufficiently away from the turtle nesting area) and partly to know all the view points, concerns and apprehensions so that the problem could be squarely addressed.

"In one such meeting, it was pointed out how all available studies show that the coast of Orissa north of the river Dhamra is not frequented by turtles, a fact verified on site by the National Appellate Authority on Environment before they upheld the environment clearance. It was then pointed out by some that the area north of the river Dhamra can be further studied to remove all doubts and the name of WWF-India was suggested as an independent agency. Before, however, this study could be completed, a suggestion came that a more comprehensive study through experts suggested by a number of organisations under the aegis of the Bombay Natural History Society may be more useful. Tata Steel and the promoters of Dhamra port have always been positive in their response to any suggestion for further study ... .."

Tata Steel has decided to fund the BNHS research project with the final agreement yet to be signed.

"This is not exactly an EIA as the statutorily required EIA (Environment Impact Assessment) has already been done. This is more in the nature of a study on what effects the port can have, if at all it will have, on the conservation of turtles and measures necessary to obviate such effects. ... For the present, the groups consulted have asked for study during one season only," explains Mr Choudhry and adds, "No steel project has been planned at Dhamra. It is only the port. ... . The construction of the port, therefore, has to go on as per schedule. The findings of the further study are not yet known and therefore any such conjecture as to whether the project would be scrapped is purely hypothetical."

In a second e-mail, Choudhry clarified that "Tata Steel's new greenfield project for a 6-million-tonne steel plant is on schedule and we are going ahead with it. Land has been taken and equipment orders have been given. Dhamra is not the only evacuation point as the plant is not necessarily only for foreign markets but more for domestic. Historically we have exported only 13-15 per cent of products."

Seemingly work on the port and steel project are on. If that be so, ecological studies in the future by the BNHS may not be binding. Naturalists are worried. In a detailed letter to the BNHS, Biswajit Mohanty, co-ordinator, Kachhapa, has argued for a complete EIA study including telemetry studies covering both prime and non-prime turtle seasons for two years at least. Pushing on, the letter wants BNHS to insist, "that no port construction activity should commence till the EIA study is complete," apart from extending the EIA to cover "the proposed steel plants, rolling units, coking coal units likely to come up at the Dhamra port as well".

Perhaps, the letter sent by Ashish Kothari to BNHS is more revealing. "There is evidence to prove that in the late 1990s, two protected areas in the region, the Bhitarkanika National Park (BNP) and the Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary (GMS) were compromised to allow for the Dhamra port," Kothari states.

In the draft notification for the BNP issued in 1988, the total area of the proposed PA was about 370 sq.km. The proposed port site was well within the boundaries of this PA, which meant that at the time, the area was considered important for wildlife; in December 1997, a fresh proclamation was issued whereby the proposed boundary of the PA was redrawn so that the port site fell outside; the BNP was finally notified in Sept. 1998, with a total area of only about 145 sq.km which placed the port site outside the park.

When this question was put to Tata Steel, Choudhry replied: " It is not understood how Tata Steel or the port project would be in the picture if the national park or the sanctuary limits were reduced way back in 1988 before the port project was conceived by the promoters. As far as we know the limits after being finally notified have not been reduced. Any change made between preliminary notification and final notification based on hearing of objections would have been normal as the very purpose of preliminary notification is to hear such objections and make necessary changes."

One wonders: Are there any keepers for Oliver Riddley turtles?

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Will these turtles survive?

Jumbo care

Innovative recycling

Curious crowd

Johnnie Walker series on mobiles

The splendour of Flora