DHAMRA PORT

photo credit: greenpeace

The site of the proposed Dhamra port project is located on the eastern Indian coast of Orissa. The development of the port has been in the pipeline for over a decade.  The main point of contention is that this port will have several negative impacts on the ecosystems of the region, particularly on the mass nesting beaches for olive ridley turtles at Gahirmatha. This port project along with several coastal infrastructure projects has been opposed by some fisherfolk organisations who believe these projects to negatively affect the traditional fisher communities of the region. Members of Dakshin, in their capacities and positions, have voiced their concerns in print and media about the nature, impacts and process of permission and development of this port. 

Clearance to build a port was granted in 1997 taking advantage of the amendment to the CRZ Notification which allowed the expansion of minor ports (Dhamra is a notified minor port) with clearance from the Ministry of Surface Transport rather than the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF). The power to clear such projects has since returned to the MoEF. The port was to be built by International Seaports Limited under a Build, Share and Transfer Agreement with the Government of Orissa. A shoddy Environment Impact Assessment Report was prepared which was critiqued by several of us. Matters are still pending in the Orissa High Court challenging the development of the port. The question of the legal validity of the environmental clearance remains a very valid one.

The Dhamra Port is only one of several projects to worry about. The Orissa government has signed several (30 – 40) MOUs with private companies as part of the state’s development plan and has plans for about 3 – 4 major ports along the coast, which will in fact affect all the mass nesting beaches in Orissa.

We are engaged in debates about the Dhamra Port with several groups, ranging from international conservation organisation such as WWF and Greenpeace, national NGOs like WPSI, Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, and local organisations including the Orissa Traditional Fish Workers’ Union. We are researching the implications of port development on communities and ecosystems across the state as well as other parts of the country.

 

Investigators
Kartik Shanker, Sudarshan Rodriguez and Aarthi Sridhar

Publications
Special Issue of the Marine Turtle Newsletter on Dhamra Port (MTN XX – www.seaturtle.org/mtn121 )

Special Issue of the Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter on Dhamra Port (IOTN 8 – http://www.seaturtle.org/iotn/issue-8.html )

Shanker, K. 2008. My way or the highway!!! Where corporations and conservationists meet. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter 8: 10-14

Rodriguez, S & A. Sridhar. 2008. Dhamra Port: How Environmental Regulatory Failure Fuels Corporate Irreverence. Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter 8: 19-23

Shanker, K. 2009.  A port, a flagship and a Union: Conservationists and Corporations – Cold war or Common Cause? Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, February, 2009, Brisbane, Australia.

Rodriguez, S. 2009 Dhamra Port: How Environmental Regulatory Failure Fuels Corporate Irreverence. Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, February, 2009, Brisbane, Australia.

Rodriguez, S.  2008. Review of the Implications of Mega Projects: Sethusamudram Ship Canal Project and the Dhamra Port. IOSEA, August, 2008, Bali, Indonesia.

Anonymous. 2000. Resolutions on Orissa at the Sea Turtle Symposium in March 2000. Kachhapa 3: 11-13