An oily menace at Ennore

The latest chapter in the never-ending saga of troubles

for fishermen
BY
Naresh Singaravelu PGDJ18088

Omjasvin M.D PGDJ18098

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An investiative report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Post Graduate Diploma in
Journalism at the Asian College of Journalism for the academic year
2018-19 under the supervision of Prof. Sreekumar Menon
 An oily menace at Ennore
The latest battle in the never-ending saga of troubles for fishermen
Naresh Singaravelu
Omjasvin M.D.

Ennore, April 11: The fishermen from the village of Kattukuppam, situated in Ennore, have
been in constant battle for protecting their livelihood for years.

Over the years, they have been fighting (both legally and through protests) the unrelenting
discharge of fly ash and scalding hot water from the coal-fired thermal power plants, the
dumping of sand and earth dredged from the Ennore Creek, besides several other coastal zone
law violations by various private and government entities.

The Creek is surrounded by several coal-fired power plants which include the North Chennai
Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) and the oldest power plant in the region, the Ennore Thermal
Power Station, which is defunct now.

The Ennore Creek and backwaters is the confluence point of Kosasthalaiyar River, the
Buckingham Canal and the sea. It is the primary source of livelihood for six fishing villages, of
which three rely wholly and perennially on the Kosasthalaiyar River and the Creek. One such
village is Kattukuppam.

Once protected by coastal zone laws, which banned construction, reclamation or alteration of the
course of the water bodies, the Ennore creek is now under constant ecological threat due to
widespread industrialisation. First time visitors will be appalled by the sheer toxicity of the canal
which is the way of life for the 16,000 fishermen in the area.

These industries brazenly pollute in violation of several environmental laws resulting in the
killing of the aquatic life and destruction of local livelihood. “Thirty years ago, we used to bathe
in the Creek, but now look at the dark reeking water,’’ says 64-year-old Rajendran of
Netukkuppam. Located at the city’s margin, the Creek connects Kosasthalaiyar and Araniyar
rivers to the sea.

The Creek is also a natural flood barrier and houses different kinds of fishes and prawns. ‘‘Vaval
Meen (Pomfret), Kanakalatha (Indian Mackerel), Mathimeen (Sardine), and prawns do not come
to the creek anymore,’’ says Rajendran, who has been into fishing for fifty years.

Who is Responsible?

The latest entrant to this never-ending list, according to fishermen here, is the alleged
discharging of oil effluents by the Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited which manufactures an
array of products including automotive and industrial lubircants. The ₹200-crore plant, which is
owned by the Hinduja Groups has been in operation since August 2018, and has been regularly
releasing oil directly to the Buckingham Canal through at least three broad outlet pipes, said
fishermen from the area.

“Dark, yellow patches in the water started showing up only after the plant was established here.
Initially we weren’t able to pinpoint the source, but after scouting around the place, we suspected
that it was oil being discharged from the Gulf Oil Lubricants plant,” said Raja, a fisherman from
Kattukuppam.

Huge patches of oil clinging to the canal water. PHOTO: Omjasvin M.D

The oil-laden water drains into the creek during low-tide, seriously damaging the marine ecology
of the creek. The catchment rate of fish and prawn in the creek has drastically reduced in the last
six months, said Dilli, a fisherman.

Besides killing fish and prawns, the oil in the water has also been a health hazard, causing skin
diseases. To make matters worse, the only government hospital near Kattukuppam at
Tiruvottiyur has only nurses for the most part, with doctors hardly present. “Whenever one of us
visits the place, they ask us to go to Stanley Hospital,” said Raja.
Going to Stanley, which is about 20 kilometres away from Ennore, meant a loss of an entire
day’s livelihood for the fishermen. “It’s a waste of time and money. We are therefore forced to
go to private doctors in the vicinity.” Private doctors are expensive, so the fisherfolk avoid going
there unless the problem is too severe. This triple blow of livelihood-loss, destruction of ecology
and the rampant health hazards has caused severe distress to the fisherfolk in the locality.

Soon, the fishermen observed that the plant’s authorities started covering the outlet pipes using
thorny plants. Deciding not to wait any longer, they clicked several photographs of the oil being
discharged from the outlet pipes of the plant. “We had cut through the thorny plants to find the
pipes and photographed them,” said Rajendran.

Armed with this visual evidence, the cooperative society mobilized a group of fishermen and
went to the plant with a petition to stop the release of oil. “When we went there to raise our
concerns, they said there is no chance for oil discharge in their industrial process. Further, they
claimed that the yellow patches we are seeing in the water came from sewage waste of nearby
localities,” said R. L. Srinivasan, head of the Kaatukuppam Fishermen’s Cooperative Society.

The petition. PHOTO: Omjasvin M.D

“We have been earning our livelihood here for years, and have seen the sewage mixing with the
water. But we have never seen this paste-like yellow substance in the water. So it’s clear that
they are misleading us,” he said.
The petition was also sent to the District Collector of Tiruvallur, Deputy Superintendent of
Police, Tiruvarur, Commissioner of Police, Chennai, and even the candidates for the upcoming
Lok Sabha elections who come to campaign here, said Rajendran. When asked if they will accept
any monetary compensations, the fisherfolk are clear that they won’t. “We won’t stop until they
stop releasing the oil for good,” he said.

However, they did try seeking for jobs in the plant to compensate for their loss of livelihood. “At
first they said they can employ only educated people. When the educated went, they were sent
back anyway because they were ‘locals’. In the end, only those who had political influence and
connections were able to work there,” said M. Anandan (62), former employee of Ashok
Leyland (whose factory is in Ennore) and a senior member of Kaatukuppam Fishermen’s
Cooperative Society.

Geo-location mapping

A geo-location mapping of the part of the Kosasthalaiyar River where the discharge occurred
revealed a strong concentration of chemical discharge from the outlet pipes which run right
beneath the Gulf Oil Lubricants and Ashok Leyland plants, specifically pointing out two out of
the three pipes of the former.

The density of toxic chemicals was found to be very high on the segment of the river between
Ashok Leyland and Gulf. Starting from the outlet pipes running under Gulf, the chemical slowly
had moved towards the Creek, posing a grave danger to the bio-diversity there.

According to the Environmental Protection Act, 1986, no company is allowed to release toxic
chemicals in the water body. Though Gulf has denied the allegations of releasing any chemicals
into the water, the leakage seems to continue from close proximity of the lubricant industry.

Two weeks ago, the company, after protests by the fishermen, started repairing one of their outlet
pipes, from which the chemical discharge was spotted in the month of March. As there is only a
defunct Ennore Thermal Power Station located beyond the Gulf, where the density of oil-leakage
is barely seen, the two companies on the radar of the mapping logically seem to be answerable to
this disastrous chemical spill.

Toxic chemicals which were white in colour were also spotted right next to Gulf Oil Lubricants.
The mapping done for that revealed the point of discharge to be from one of the outlet pipes
running beneath Ashok Leyland.

‘‘It is duty of the Government to inspect and they have the power to even seal these polluting
industries, but they have failed on that,’’ said K.Saravanan, an activist from the Coastal Resource
Centre. The so called ‘‘Concrete Development’’ has been the only concern for the Government
that led to the destruction of the Creek, he said.

‘‘There is no immediate solution to this ecological disaster. The Government has to properly
study the levels of chemical pollution in the river and act quickly,’’ adds Saravanan. More than
short term impact, the current condition of the Creek has a long term impact.
 A map showing the affected parts of the canal.

Land reclamation

Saravanan said most industries on the Ennore Creek have been given permission in violation to
the ‘‘hazardous lines’’ – which is 100 metres from the High Tide Line of a water-body. ‘‘The
official maps provided by the Government (2017 RTI) showed many parts of the water body as
land, which allowed companies to get Environmental Clearance for setting up or expanding,’’ he
said.

The revealed RTI report dating back to 1997 showed Ennore Creek as a land mass. To find out
the ambiguities of the maps of the Ennore Creek, Saravanan drew his own map which revealed
that out of the 2341 acres of Creek, 1000 acres will be converted into land for industries. In the
2026 master plan for the Ennore Creek, the “No-Development Zone” according to the Coastal
Zone Management Plan 1996 has been reclassified into “A zone for special and hazardous
industries.”

In 2018, the Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment gave Environmental
and Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance for the Phase-III expansion of the Kamarajar Port,
who is a regular offender when it comes to oil-spills. The clearance was given having the
falsified map as basis for expansion. However, the expansion has been stalled at the moment by
the fishermen of Kaatukuppam.

‘‘Unlike the release of sewage which at least can be cleared, the toxic chemical discharge
remains for a long time, killing the life of the water itself,’’ said Saravanan, who has been
fighting to save the Creek for about seven years now.

Urban Planner Karen Coelho in her work published in the Ecologies of Urbanism in India terms
this ‘‘water to land conversion’’ as a threat to the livelihood of the fishing communities.

Saravanan, an expert in mapping, compared the current map of the Ennore Creek and the old
map dating back to 1965. ‘‘The Vallur Thermal Power Station and the Coal Yard completely sits
on the water body now,’’ said Saravanan, pointing out that further water-to-land conversion may
not only be disastrous for the fishing community but for the city as well.

‘‘The Creek is a natural flood barrier and the water has to flow through the mouth in
Netukuppam. If industrial encroachments continue, the natural flow of water is altered,’’ he said.

According to the journal on Toxicology and Health, comparisons of levels of heavy metal
pollution in aquatic environments were undertaken by analysis of water, sediments and
members of indigenous biota, i.e. biomonitors.

The research found that the heavy mental contamination was wide-spread in the Ennore Creek.
The urban and industrial activities in the water body is awash with toxic chemicals like parafins,
aromatics, copper and nickel which may cause permanent disturbances to the marine ecosystem,
leading to ecological degradation, by not just affecting the flora and fauna but also humans
through food chain.

The tension among the Kaatukuppam fishermen grows everyday as this continuous discharge of
chemicals pose a serious threat to what’s left of their livelihood.

The discharge returns

On April 3, scattered patches of a yellow, oily, viscous liquid were seen clinging to the canal
water, but the outlet pipes in question were found dry, with dried yellow patches sticking on the
floor just below the pipes. The fisherfolk confirmed that day that it had been a few days since the
last oil discharge, which explained the dried patches near the outlet pipes.
 The outlet area directly behind the Gulf Oil Lubricants plant. PHOTO: Omjasvin M.D

As reported by the The New Indian Express, Shambhu Kallolikar, environment secretary and
chairman of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB), said that the District Environment
Engineer (DEE) concerned has visited the spot and is investigating. Officials are suspecting
coolant oil discharge from tanker lorries. “Several units of oil companies in the area are also
being inspected to find out the source of oil,” he told Express.

The official couldn’t conclusively identify the source of the discharge, said Srinivasan. “Since
the outlet pipes from Gulf Oil Lubricants and Ashok Leyland were dry, he couldn’t say for sure
if it was them. But we pointed out the dried patches of yellow sticking to these pipes.” But there
has been no official report from TNPCB at the time of writing.

The Government does not consider any remedy to the issue, said Saravanan, who has been
working with the fishermen of Ennore on several issues.

The way forward

The fishermen, led by Srinivasan, are more determined than ever to get justice. “All the
industries in this area claim they desalinate wastewater and that they are operating with clearance
from the TNPCB. If the TNPCB does its inspections properly, why do we still see sewage and
oil directly mixing with the water?” said Srinivasan. The fisherfolk are confident that these
companies don’t have the required permission to discharge sewage or oil.

Will they take the legal route? Srinivasan, who is not new to fighting long legal battles in court,
had filed a petition to the National Green Tribunal in 2017 against a road being levelled at the
mouth of the Kosasthalaiyar river draining into the Ennore creek by TANGEDCO. Though he
got a favourable order that instructed TANGEDCO to remove sand roads being laid on the
riverbed, the issue persisted and the court order was not respected.
But this time around, he is apprehensive about filing a case. “The legal route is very tedious. If
we file a case, it will just stay dormant for years. We don’t have any choice but to gather all
fishermen from the area and protest until we get justice”

The power of protests is unparalleled, he said.