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Environmentalist groups including the Greenpeace have accused the Tata group of causing harm to rare sea turtles off India’s east coast. According to the environmental groups, the Tata began construction of a new port at Dhamra in Orissa, without obtaining proper environmental clearances and without honoring the commitment made by Tata group chairman Ratan Tata, to take care of the environment issues.
The Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL), a fifty–fifty joint venture between Tata steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has rebutted the accusations at a press conference earlier this week. The environmental dispute has been building up for some time now as the site is less than five kilometers from India’s second largest mangrove forest. More significantly, the site is less than fifteen kms north from one of the world’s largest mass nesting grounds used by thousands of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles every year. The turtles at night crawl out of the sea to the sandy beaches, where they dig holes to hide their eggs before disappearing in the sea.
The company claims that the port is not located in a nesting area and the environmentalists agree with that but the latter asserts that the turtles hunt and mate near the port site and the Dharma river mouth, which may result in the turtles being killed by dredging and shipping. The honorable Supreme Court of India had also proclaimed four years ago that the project would ‘seriously impact’ the nesting. The Greenpeace is also steadfast in supporting the cause of environment and claims that more than 70,000 people have signed internet generated letters of protest to Ratan Tata. Thousands of volunteers also lit candles last week outside Ratan Tata’s home in Mumbai as a mark of protest.
