Footprints on the Mountainside

I found this page on the greenpeace site, and throught it is important for readers here to notice.

©Bivash Pandav

Consider this… Olive Ridley turtles rely on an inexplicable, in-built
navigation system that guides them, when it’s time for them to
reproduce, back to the precise coast on which they were born.

Now
consider something else… The proposed Tata port at Dhamra threatens a
nesting site that is amongst the last honeymoon suites for the
remaining Olive Ridleys, a highly-endangered species that swims all the
way here from places as far away as Australia and the Philippines.

When
you consider these two facts together, it seems only logical that Tata
would reconsider its decision to build the port at Dhamra, and build it
in an area that’s less ecologically sensitive. It seems especially
logical when it’s Tata we’re talking about.

After all,
Tata has grown from a national giant into an international player,
while constantly stating its commitment to the principles of social
upliftment, environmental justice and sustainable development. The Tata
brand is ubiquitous, present in hundreds of products that have
genuinely improved the lives of generations of Indians; from the Tata
salt that flavours our daily bread, the Tata BP solar geyser that warms
our winter baths, the Tata Telecom that manages our communications, to
the Tata cars that ‘drive a billion dreams.’

©Bivash Pandav

And yet, in Orissa, we’re witnessing a different side to the same Tata.
A Tata that shuts its ears to reason. A Tata that looks the other way
when confronted with evidence. A Tata that cares nothing for the
community, and even less for nature.

The port Tata is proposing to build in Dhamra will directly
affect the Olive Ridley turtles. With 150,000 to 350,000 Olive Ridley
turtles nesting in the vicinity, the average number of hatchlings is
believed to range from 15 million to 35 million.

When confronted by Greenpeace
Tata promised concerned citizens that it would abandon the port ‘if
evidence of turtle presence and the ecological significance of the area
were ever unearthed.’

©Pratyush Mohapatra/Greenpeace

The evidence was submitted , but this promise wasn’t kept. The perfunctory EIA
carried out in this area isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Another
nesting season has passed us by, with turtle mortality from mechanized
fishing agonizingly high. Coming in addition to this annual death toll,
the Tata port could be the final nail in the turtle’s coffin, ensuring
that this area is never safe for turtles again.

Will this willful destruction be the legacy that Tata leaves behind in Orissa?

Not if you can help it. To write directly to Ratan Tata and ask him to change his mind, simply sign the letter on the right.