Chennai: Fishermen fraternity of Ennore collectively rejected the proposal to build a new supercritical power plant here, during the public hearing conducted by the Tangedco on Tuesday.
Fishermen alleged that the Tangedco had not followed the mandatory procedure of distributing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in the public domain.
The new supercritical plant with 660Mw capacity is in eye of a storm, as the Tangedco has falsified the EIA conducted to assess the pollution. The new plant is a replacement for the decommissioned Ennore Thermal Power Station, which was generating 450MW every day.
DC had already reported on how the EIA's data were not matching with that of the Central Pollution Control Board's data collected from the Manali air monitoring station here. According to the EIA, the PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels were under the control, though Manali's station records state a rise beyond the standards. Voices against the EIA study rent the air at the public hearing, chaired by Tiruvallur collector E. Sundaravalli and district environmental engineer Vasudevan.
"We could not find a copy of EIA in the local fisheries or the corporation offices. How can they not prioritise the locals of Ennore?” questioned a fisherman at the public hearing.
The fishermen who were present at the public hearing were not attracted by the employment opportunities baited by the Tangedco officials. “We don’t want the jobs they offer. We want our livelihood. Just clean our water bodies and restore them,” said A-nandan, a fisherman from Kattukuppam.
The fishermen community, which once was thriving by the rich marine life of the Ennore Creek, is now desolated, due to the pollution from the power plants.
Narrating their ordeal, D. Selvaraj, a fisherman from Kattukuppam said: “We want the current encroachments to be removed. We had a flourishing catch decades ago. Pollution from these power plants has declined our catch and our livelihood. Can the government give us back our livelihood?”
