‘Tamizhargale Tamizhargale…’ With this shout-out to all Tamils began one of the oft-televised iconic dialogues of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi. He goes on to say that even if he was thrown into the sea, he would rise as a catamaran for the Tamils to ride on.
Was that the inspiration for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) to locate a memorial for the departed leader, a famed littérateur, in the sea? In the face of opposition, the Tamil Nadu government has proposed the construction of a 42-metre pen-shaped memorial right in the Bay of Bengal to honour his contribution to Tamil literature. The opposition to its location in the sea comes from people living off, and near the sea, and environmental activists. The project requires Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance as it involves both onshore and offshore construction. As conceived, it consists of a 42-metre-tall pen statue-cum-pedestal set over half-an-acre of reclaimed sea at a point where the sea is six metres deep. The pen would be situated about 360 metres from the shore with a bridge connecting it to the existing Karunanidhi memorial on the shore. The lattice bridge would be about 650 metres long — 290 metres on the shore and about 360 metres in the sea — connecting the monument and the shore. The project will be spread over about 8551.13 square metres, covering CRZ-IA, CRZ-II, and CRZ-IV(A).
The CRZ denotes areas along India’s coastal stretch where development of buildings, tourism infrastructure and other facilities is regulated. The coastal land up to 500 metres from the High Tide Line (HTL) — the line on the land up to which the highest water line reaches during the full and new moons — is the CRZ. The regulation is aimed at conserving and protecting coastal stretches; securing the livelihood of the fishing and local communities living in coastal areas; and promoting development in a sustainable manner, taking into account natural hazards and sea-level rise. CRZ-IA denotes ecologically sensitive areas, CRZ-II is the area that is already developed up to the shore, and CRZ-IV(A) is 12 nautical miles off the Low Tide Line (LTL), the line on the land up to which the lowest water line reaches during the full and new moons.
While the 2011 CRZ notification mandated regulation of pollution from offshore activities in CRZ-IV(A), the 2019 notification allows land reclamation for establishing ports, harbours and roads; facilities for discharging treated effluents; transfer of hazardous substances; and construction of memorials or monuments. According to the latest notification, the projects proposed in CRZ-I and CRZ-IV will require clearance from the Union government. The National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR), in its report on coastline structures, says man-made activities result in significant changes to the shoreline, causing coastal erosion and accretion. The coastal ecosystems are highly threatened, encountering pollution, siltation and erosion, flooding, saltwater intrusion, and storm surges, the NCCR notes.
The Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast is referred to as a precedent for the proposed pen memorial. However, the characteristics of the western coast are slightly different from those of the eastern coast. “The Tamil Nadu coast has some unique characteristics in its coastal morphology. We have deltas, sand dunes, and estuaries. The sand transport pattern in the west coast and the east coast is different. In Tamil Nadu, longshore sediment transport is dominant. For seven to eight months, the sand moves towards the north and in the remaining four months, it moves towards the south. The natural sand transport in the sea and the amount of sand brought in by rivers contribute to the Tamil Nadu coast’s instability,” explains NCCR Director M.V. Ramana Murthy.
In a study, ‘National Assessment of Shoreline: Changes along Indian Coast’, the NCCR has found that from 1990 to 2016, 33% of India’s coastline witnessed erosion, with the majority of it seen along the east coast facing the Bay of Bengal. Tamil Nadu, with 42.7% of its coast suffering erosion, ranks fourth in India after West Bengal (60.5%), Puducherry (56.2%) and Kerala (46.4%). However, NCCR data suggest that stretches of the coast are experiencing ‘low’ erosion, neither ‘high’ nor ‘moderate’. The memorial project location on the Marina beach in Chennai is in the region classified as having ‘moderate’ accretion, meaning gradual accumulation of sand because of natural action.
Gaps in the EIA
Activists have claimed that the Draft Rapid Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Report on the pen memorial has failed to account for several factors. According to the EIA, the seabed is devoid of any sensitive species like coral reefs, seagrass and Olive Ridley turtles; structures will be built on piles, which will be positioned in a manner that it will not disturb any fishing activity; the marine water and sediment quality were found to be optimum.
Nityanand Jayaram, environmental activist, offers counters. He says fisherfolk who have been living on the Marina are sure about Olive Ridley turtles and fishes thriving near the project area. Also, countering the statement in the EIA that fishermen venture only deep into the sea for fishing, he claims it is contrary to Indian fishing patterns. “Throughout the country, fish are found only in the near-shore areas,” he says. Mr. Jayaram points out that there is nothing “optimum” about the sediment as data in the EIA itself suggest six out of eight samples taken from the project area show higher-than-standard levels of mercury. Two samples also show increased cadmium levels.
The response of Minister for Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports E.V. Velu runs counter-intuitive to the sentiments expressed by fishermen at a public hearing organised recently. He claimed that a majority of fisherfolk at the public hearing supported the construction of the memorial. “Fisherfolk themselves have come out and said they won’t be affected by the memorial,” he said. He said researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) had carried out inspections in the project area and had not found any turtles in the coast or fish. “The researchers visited the beach early morning for a month. Are we just writing in the report that there are no fish? In accordance with the Centre’s norms, all the departments have been working to submit reports. The decision can be made only after the final report comes out,” Mr. Velu said.
Adding to the burden
“When there is an ailing patient, you don’t increase the load on him,” Mr. Jayaram says, adding that the coastal environment is already overburdened, and efforts must be made to protect it rather than add to the construction in the area.
Referring to the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Prabhakaran Veeraarasu, environmental engineer, Poovulagin Nanbargal, says Chennai has been running the risk of rising sea levels. “There is also a local study. The Greater Chennai Corporation’s Climate Action Plan says that in five years, seawater may reach 100 metres into the shore. In 15 to 20 years, 200 metres of shore land will be engulfed by the sea,” he says.
Mr. Veeraarasu adds that the EIA has been done without the threat of sea-level rise — which is now a global concern — having been considered. Spelling out apprehensions about the fishing villages near the beach, he said, “If the threat does become real, people living in the villages will have to relocate. Where will they go all of a sudden?” Further, he points out that sea-level rise may affect the monument itself. “In 10 years, the government may have to remove the monument from there and relocate it,” he said.
According to a 2016 CRZ notification, memorials were allowed to be erected only in exceptional cases in CRZ IV(A). “But this pen-shaped statue erected in memory of Mr. Karunanidhi is not an exceptional case. As there is enough space to erect a pen-shaped monument within the precinct where the memorial is located, it cannot be said that setting it up in the sea is an exceptional case,” Poovulagin Nanbargal notes as part of the comments submitted to the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board at the public hearing.
Several political parties have opposed the pen memorial in the proposed location. The Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have registered their opposition at the public hearing. NTK leader Seeman swore that if the monument was built at sea, it would be “destroyed”.
Munusamy, a BJP representative from Neelankarai, says it would be detrimental to the welfare of fishermen. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss says, “We cannot agree to erect the pen monument in the sea. Because the ocean is an ecosystem. If we put up a monument for Kalaignar today, others will line up to have theirs placed there in the future.”
Fishermen in the 34 hamlets along Chennai and Tiruvallur districts have been opposing the memorial. They say they don’t have anything against the construction of a memorial for Kalaignar, but the sea is not the place for it. “If it is a project that has to definitely come up only in the sea — for instance, a port — Section IV(A) of the CRZ Act can be invoked. But this memorial can come up on land. There is one memorial already on the Marina,” says Rajamanickam, a fishing community leader.
Fishing is likely to be affected since the Cooum estuary beyond the memorials on the Marina would definitely be hit. “The data that have been used in the EIA are flawed. It says no fishing takes place near the coast, which is wrong. Also, rainfall data from 2000 have been relied upon. They have not taken into consideration the rainfall data of 2015 or years thereafter. The estuaries of the Kosasthalaiar, the Adyar and the Cooum are where fish breed and grow. Fishermen from the 34 villages can be found fishing for prawns at the Cooum estuary between October and November. There is also a specific season for crab fishing, which will also be affected,” says another community leader, who did not want to be named.
The Public Works Department (PWD) said it would incorporate the points raised at the public hearing and remedies, to be worked out based on the suggestions of various stakeholders, into its report, which will be presented to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. The PWD, in response to a petition filed at the National Green Tribunal on February 1, hurried to assure the NGT that construction of the memorial would begin only after getting the requisite clearance from all the authorities and surveys would be carried out with reference to environmental, ecological, and social factors.
(With inputs from Deepa H. Ramakrishnan and K. Lakshmi.)
