No To Nayachar Hub : Experts
Recently a panel of experts comprising of geologists, hydrologists, marine physicists, chemical engineers, technologists researchers, has expressed their critical views on the proposed chemical hub at Nayachar at a press conference held at the Kolkata Press Club on 17.03.2008.
“ Setting up a chemical hub at Nayachar would only benefit multinationals setting up processing units at the site at the cost of degrading our ecology and severly depleteing our natural resources”. Committee member and National Fishworkers’ Forum chairman Hare Krishna Debnath said that the area generates employment for around 2.5 lakh fisherman and produces over two lakh tones of fish most of which is exported across the globe earning a significant amount of foreign revenue. He emphasized that Government should note that it is a ‘zero investment industry’.
Professor Partha Roy, Dept. of Chemical Technology, CU maintained that “the industry generates poor employment because of automation and with time the number of employment is steadily declining. While the government cites example of Jurong, the projected employment figure there are 15,000 by 2010 when 150 companies will set up their units and 18,000 in 2012 with 172 manufacturers”. Considering the proposed plant size, “only few thousands job might be generated at Nayachar while Government claims that to be 10 lakhs”, he added.
The expert committee mentions in its report that Nayachar is ‘an area of incomplete morphogenesis. Historically speaking, such estuarine shoals appear and disappear in active littoral tracts in connection with the hydrodynamics of the delta. Any major structural intervention would obviously imperil the delicate hydro-morphology of the estuary.’
This Citizens’ Expert Committee will submit its final report shortly. The said conference was organized jointly by the Teachers and Scientists Against Maldevelopment (TASAM) and the Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA) who are now jointly working on the issue.
Press Coverage → TOI Dainik Statesman
Law bent for Nayachar
(Following is an excerpt from the Press Statement issued by DISHA on 24 October, 2007)
• Where The Gurdian turns Violator
The Government of West Bengal, instead of protecting the coastal environment of the state, is blatantly violating all environmental norms laid down in Coastal Regulation Zone Notification 1991 under Environment Protection Act.
• The MOEF Position
Responding to a set of specific queries made by DISHA under Right to Information Act regarding the setting up of Chemical Hub in Nayachar Island, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has officially declared that Nayachar Island falls under Coastal Regulation Zone and is covered by CRZ I and CRZ III and further states that, “In the Coastal Regulation Zone area setting up of industries/expansion of existing industries is a prohibited activity.” (the MOEF letter here )
• The CRZ
Notwithstanding all its shortcomings and the ceaseless efforts to dilute it, the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification (1991) remains the only instrument dedicated to preserving the coastal environment of India from invasions and encroachments in the name of development.
• The Coast of our State
As such our state has a very short coastline as compared to other coastal states. But this brief coastline is of immeasurable environmental importance. It offers an amazing geo-ecological spectacle — a breathtaking intermesh of creeks still teeming with life, of sand dunes and beach vegetation and of course the mangroves. The area harbours the world renowned Sunderban biosphere containing an astonishing variety of flora and fauna. A keen initiative to protect this environmentally fragile region was called for. But the state government has done little to save this precious gift of nature. Although there is a claim that a State Coastal Zone Management Authority was constituted long back in 1998 under the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, 1991, there is little to make us aware of its existence. The Department of Environment of the state tells us (in response to a Right to Information request made by DISHA) that there is no Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) for West Bengal till date, although it was mandatory for the state Government to draw such a plan within one year of the CRZ Notification 1991. It is inexcusable that even 16 years have not been enough for our state government to draw up the CZMP. In the meantime our valuable coast has been snatched away by the unscrupulous vested interest groups in connivance with local and state authorities (or sections thereof). It is the same story everywhere — Digha, Shankarpur or Bakkhali — a complete absence of governance.
• Mandarmani
The latest example is Mandarmani. A totally unscrupulous tourism industry constructed hotels on the beach, destroying sand dunes and beach vegetation, plying heavy and light vehicles on the beach in contravention of all environmental norms. The governmental agencies, which are duty bound to take action against them are actually patronizing them with their actions and inactions. In response to a case filed by DISHA, the High Court specifically ordered on 27.4.2007 to take action in accordance with law but nothing has so far been done except the State Coastal Zone Management Authority holding a meeting. Finding no remedy DISHA has again filed a ‘Contempt of Court’ against the Central and State environment authorities for their inaction.
• In the Meantime — Nayachar
By this time the state government has decided to set up chemical industries in Nayachar Island, knowing very well that the area falls under Coastal Regulation Zone and the CRZ Notification do not permit any such ‘development” there. So this time it is a direct act of violation of CRZ Notification by the government itself.
• Environment — Only a stick to beat the Poor with? A Tale of Two Islands
It is this government which evicted a huge number of traditional fishermen from their seasonal fish drying activities in Jambudwip a few years back. At least 20,000 fishermen were victimized in the name of protecting mangroves in Jambudwip Island. These traditional fishermen using benign fishing gears were earning their livelihood in sustainable manner for a long time. They conducted their fish drying activities only for four months in a year. They used to make temporary structures with bamboos and leaves and protected the mangrove forest of the island on their own interest. But the state forest department, misinterpreting (consciously?) a Supreme Court Order, ruthlessly attacked them and stopped their livelihood activities in the Island. Yet, even after the eviction Jambudwip island continues to lose its forest cover although the fisher people are no more there to take the blame. Now it is the same government that is hell bent on setting up chemical industries on a similar island, throwing all environmental norms to the wind in the name of ‘development’.
• Development? Really?
Is the government serious about development, about setting up industries? If so, where is requisite master plan and homework? Where is the transparency, indispensable in any democratic process? What are the chemicals that are going to be produced and in what process? Which companies are coming in? What are their track records? We appeal to the government to act according to the law of the country and ensure protection of our environmental and ecological wealth. We also demand that a coastal zone management plan be immediately framed and executed. We further recommend developing a comprehensive siting principle for setting up of industries in the state so that undesired consequences may be avoided and environmental norms are followed.
Nayachar - Doomed?
Nayachar is an island/bar situated on the Hooghly estuary, where the river opens out to meet the sea. It is a dolphin shaped landmass that is roughly oriented in the direction NNE to SSW. At its longest it is about 15.7 km and at its broadest about 4.5 km, tapering out at both ends. The area is about 47 sq. km. According to the GSI the island is bounded by the latitudes 21°54’41”N and 22°01’28”N, and longitudes 88°01’28”E and 88°08’43”E. The height of the island is about 1.5 m above mean sea level, while the tidal fluctuation at that point of the river is more than 5 m. No wonder large parts of the island get inundated during high tides, particularly the high tide at the peak of the monsoon season.
Figure 1 is a Google image of Nayachar in its geographical context. The mainstream in which the bar is located is the Hooghly estuary and the river that is flowing in from the upper left is the Haldi. Nayachar is thus situated near the confluence of the two aforesaid rivers.
Figure 2 is the NNE tip of Nayachar, the photograph having been taken from the west. This part of the island is covered by thick vegetation in which mangroves dominate.
Interestingly, the name ‘Nayachar’ aptly indicates the nature of its geological formation. The term ‘naya’ indicates new and the term ‘char’ denotes island-like structures created by deposition of alluvial sediments. According to Professor Kalyan Kumar Bandopadhyay, who has made a painstaking study of the region, before 1936 the char was beneath the water surface, even during low tide. Since 1936-7, it has surfaced and gradually gained in height to constitute what is now Nayachar. Given its character, Prof. Bandopadhyay is reluctant to use the term ‘island’ in describing Nayachar.
Professor Kalyan Rudra tells us that Nayachar is continuing in its dynamic phase through continuous erosion on the one hand and accretion on the other and therefore it is difficult to predict what may happen to the island in the future. (A GSI note also tells us that the eastern flank is undergoing erosion while the western flank is accreting; see http://www.gsi.gov.in/nayachar_note.pdf).
Large chunks of the island are subject to tidal intrusion and the island is crisscrossed by numerous creeks that contribute to the ecological richness of the island (see Figures 3 and 3A).
Near the Northern tip is located an aquaculture complex of about 1200 ponds, which are fed by channels bringing in tidal water. About 1500 fisherfolk make their living from those ponds (see Figure 4). The man in front wearing a light pink shirt is one of the fish farmers of Nayachar (Figure 4A).
Moreover, numerous capture fishers coming in from nearby parts of estuarine West Bengal make their living by catching fish and prawn seedlings along the eastern flank of the island (see Figures 5 and 6). No wonder another local name for Nayachar is Meendwip (Fish Island).
But Nayachar plays another important role in the local economy. We saw hundreds of buffaloes (grazing, swimming and wallowing in mud, see Figures 7 and 7A). They are an important source of milk for Haldia.
The proposed assault on Nayachar comes at a time when the world supply of food grows at a pace much slower than that of the growth in demand. The chemical/petrochemical hub, if ever actualized, will not only poison the coastal/estuarine environment, it will deal a death blow to an important local source of food and nutrition. And an important ecological site, which is entitled to be preserved under CRZ-I, will have been destroyed. It is time we really started taking into account such costs.
— Santanu Chacraverti, DISHA
Fig. 1 : Nayachar from Google Image
Fig. 2 : NNE Tip of Nayachar
Fig. 3 : One of the numerous creeks that enter Nayachar
Fig. 3A : Mouth of Another Creek
Fig. 4 : An aquaculture pond
Fig. 4A : A Nayachar Fisherman
Fig. 5 : Fishing boats at the mouth of a creek
Fig. 6 : On a fishing boat, preparing to enter a creek
Fig. 7 : Buffaloes Galore
Fig. 7A : Are they not stakeholders too?
Articles/Reports on Nayachar
- Nayachar — Terminal Symptom of a Malady by Subrta Sinha [link] (The Statesman, 12th February 2008)
- The Proposed Chemical Hub in Nayachar : Some Argumentative Issues of Concern — Kalyan Rudra [pdf]
- GSI's preliminary note on visit to Nayachar [pdf]
