Tata for talks on controversial project

Photo: Wikimedia CommonsThe project in Orissa threatens Olive Ridley Sea Turtles

Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata has agreed to meet Greenpeace representatives for talks on the Orissa Dhamra port-Olive Ridley Sea Turtle controversy. Both sides would fix a date for the meeting.

The Dhamra port in Orissa is being constructed by the Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL), a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T. The project has generated a storm of criticism for potential impact on the Olive Ridley Sea Turtle at the Gahirmatha and Bhitarkanika sanctuaries.

The port’s location has been of concern for years to conservationists, scientists, turtle experts, and local and national fisher groups, all of who have opposed it. They say an environment impact assessment (EIA) for the project has not been satisfactorily conducted.

Since inception, the project clashed with the habitat of the Olive Ridley Sea turtle, an endangered species and accorded Schedule I status in India, on par with the tiger.

The nesting beaches at Gahirmatha are among the world’s largest and last mass-nesting grounds for the species.

A four-month dialogue between the promoters of Dhamra and NGOs including Greenpeace India stalled in February this year after Tata Steel refused to suspend construction and commission an independent assessment of impact.

This was the third consecutive year that Greenpeace India had raised the issue at a Tata AGM. Last year, Greenpeace India campaigners had taken part in several protests to ask Ratan Tata to stop the construction of the port, even blockading the group’s Bombay House headquarters.

NGOs including Greenpeace India have been campaigning for years for an independent environment assessment, the results of which would determine the future of the project.

The protests have largely been ignored, and DPCL had said construction could be completed by April 2010. Since 2008, an online Greenpeace India campaign has resulted in over a lakh letters to Ratan Tata asking him to stop the Dhamra project.