Walk the talk on Dhamra Port Project, Greenpeace to TATA

Mumbai, June 8 (UNI) International environment watchdog agency Greenpeace India released a study today, scientifically establishing that Tata Steel's Dhamra port project in Orissa would be an ecological blunder causing irreversible destruction.

The 42-day Greenpeace commissioned study was carried out under Dr S K Dutta and his team from the North Orissa University between February and March of this year, said Ashish Fernandes, Ocean Campaigner for Greenpeace.

Mr Fernandes said the proposed site is less than five km from the Bhitarkanika Sanctuary, India's second largest mangrove forest and less than 15 km from the Gahirmatha nesting beaches, the world's largest mass nesting site for Olive Ridley sea turtles.

The Tata Group had maintained all along that the proposed port would have no impact on the turtles or any other species, the Ocean campaigner said.

Dr Dutta, principal investigator of the study, said ''This finding shatters the theory that offshore waters near Dhamra are a non-turtle zone. Over the course of the study, we have recorded over 2,000 dead tutles, who were victims of mechanised fishing on the port site and in nearby areas like Kanika sands.'' The Dhamra area is intrinsically rich in biodiversity and a very important area for horseshoe crabs. Two discoveries of rare crab- eating frog and the white-bellied mangrove snake were spotted on the port site itself, Dr Dutta added.

UNI