“They said what do fishermen know? What can they do? We will show them here,” said L.C. Raj of Nettukuppam, one of the eight fishing hamlets in Ennore that have been protesting against construction by Tamil Nadu Transmission Corporation (Tantransco). Mr. Raj, along with representatives of Ennorekuppam, Mugathwarakuppam, Thazhankuppam, Sivanpadaiveethikuppam, Periyakuppam, and Chinnakuppam, stood on a stage, with some holding maps of the transmission towers built across the area.
Over 500 residents of the eight hamlets, and more from fisher associations across Chennai, had gathered on August 3 under the scorching sun to protest against the loss of livelihood due to a slew of issues — pollution from thermal plants, restricted access to fishing grounds and unapproved construction of transmission towers. While some demanded permanent government jobs, other village representatives asked for dredging of parts of the Kosasthalaiyar so that they could make a living from fishing as they did till two decades ago. The one thing they were in agreement about was remedial action from the State authorities.
Towers, a problem
According to Tantransco, as part of the Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS) Expansion Project, in the first route, there were no towers erected in the waterbody. The second route, from SEZ to North Chennai (NC) Pooling Station, had 23 towers, and 13 of them were in the waterbody. In the third route, which goes from ETPS Expansion Project to NC Pooling Station, the project had been completed and no tower had been erected in the waterbody. In the fourth route, which is from North Chennai Thermal Power Station III to NC Pooling Station, there are seven towers, of which four fall in the waterbody. In total, 20 power transmission towers will be in the Ennore backwaters of the Kosasthalaiyar.
In October 2022, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed Tantransco to remove the temporary road structures put up for erection of towers in view of the northeast monsoon. Two months later, the NGT noted that Tantransco had not completely removed the temporary construction, thus violating its previous order. Further, locals said Tantransco and Tangedco dumped construction debris in the creek, making it increasingly unviable for fishing.
Cut to July 2023, the fishers raised concerns about a tower and a road being constructed in the river. Venkatesan of Ennorekuppam said, “The route they are taking now is different from what the government approved. They are laying a road inside the river for easy access.” Tantransco officials had told the fishermen that the road would be removed after the tower was built; yet, the locals remain apprehensive.
Damage to wetland ecosystem
On July 26, International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem, Ennore fishers protested at the construction site of the towers in their boats. The mangrove ecosystem is known to provide protection from tsunamis, heavy winds, and tall waves. Ideally an essential fixture in coastal settlements, the marine ecosystem thrives in mangroves, which also reduce the speed of the waves and the winds. A 2016 study, ‘Analysis of Heavy Metals Accumulation in Mangroves and Associated Mangroves Species of Ennore Mangrove Ecosystem, East Coast India,’ published in Indian Journal of Science and Technology, found high levels of heavy metals, such as lead, zinc, and cadmium, in the Ennore mangrove ecosystem.
‘Considerable stress’
“The mangrove areas of the Ennore creek in north Chennai have been subjected to considerable environmental stress due to man-made activities, such as urbanisation and industrialisation, which affected the ecosystem very poorly,” it said.
Between 2018 and 2020, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, with support from NTPC Tamil Nadu Energy Company Limited (NTECL), restored 15 hectares of the degraded mangrove ecosystem along Ennore. However, apprehensions still remain.
In 2021, Ennore fishers warned of threats to Konamudukku, one of the most biologically productive patches remaining in the Ennore Pulicat wetlands, as Tangedco altered its alignment. Konamudukku is identified as a No Development Zone in the approved 2018 Coastal Zone Management Plan. According to environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman, transmission towers had been built by Tantransco in around 39 acres of mangroves in Ennore.
“This is not just an Ennore issue. People in Thiruvanmiyur, Adyar must also be scared of it,” Raju of Chennai Climate Action Group said, referring to the increased risk of flooding in Chennai.
Beyond the towers
In October 2020, a video of fly ash leaking from a pipeline of the North Chennai Thermal Power Station into the Kosasthalaiyar emerged on social media. The fly ash, which has been gradually accumulating on the river bed for over a decade, along with the coolant water discharged into the Ennore creek, has drastically reduced the catch of fish and prawns. “The tiger prawns here were so good that just one will weigh over half-a-kilo. Now, they are all ‘sambal eral’ that taste toxic,” said Arumugam, a resident of Nettukuppam.
A fight without pause
Pick your battles, they say. But the people of Ennore have had to fight without pause, with the latest being the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan map, which has omitted large tracts of salt pans and waterbodies. In June, chiding the coastal zone authorities, the NGT ordered redrawing of the “incomplete” map. Fisher associations have also said 29 of the 44 fishing villages are not even marked in it and a large part of the wetlands are being planned to be converted into industrial areas. They say a comparison of maps from the CZMP 1996, which demarcates the areas along the coast that can be opened up for construction, showed that 1,090 acres of the 8,000 acres of the protected wetlands along the Ennore creek have been encroached upon by the State and public sector units.