This turtle season — migration has started — may spell doom for these endangered creatures since their nesting beaches have eroded drastically, thanks to alleged illegal sand-dredging by Essar Steel Orissa Ltd (ESOL) at the mouth of Mahanadi river.
ESOL is setting up a steel pellet factory at Paradip, with an annual capacity of 6 million tonne, along with a captive power plant of 225 MW, at an investment of Rs 10,721 crore.
According to information obtained through an RTI application filed by environmentalist Biswajit Mohanty, the company was given environmental clearance on May 29, 2008. However, it suppressed material information by not disclosing that the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) was part of the total projected land requirement of 1,925 acres. The company managed to get away without even applying for CRZ clearance. Read the full report here.
Source: Moushumi Basu, The Pioneer, New Delhi.
