Dear All

I would like to bring to notice an issue which has been ignored for some time. Please visit my blog at IBIBO Save the Seas” Olive ridleys. Please do post your comments and write about it n your blog, so that the issue reaches out to a wider audience, garnering more support. The TATA’s are building a port at Dhamra which will be the largest and the deepest one to be ever built in South Asia. It might promise economic prosperity but the ecological impacts that it will have will eradicate Olive Ridley turtles from face of this planet. These turtles congregate every year on the beaches of Orissa for a mass nesting. The hatchlings return to the same shores to hatch years later to lay eggs. This phenomenon of nature has kept many researchers perplexed till today. Like any other Indian, none of our lives have been left untouched by the TATA name and products. We respect their social record and concern for the environment which has been an integral part of the TATA legacy. And that is why we believe that the Dhamra project is not in keeping with the spirit of the TATA legacy. We are not attacking the TATA’s; we are simply asking them to continue to uphold the social record that they are so proud of. We have a right to do so as consumers of TATA products and as people who believe that profits should not be placed before environment. We expect nothing less from them.Orissa is a state with a rich biodiversity and rich mineral deposits and a growing list of national and international investments, including steel mines and ports. It is more important than ever before that we take great care of the rich and unique biodiversity that Orissa possesses. Development that enriches society in the long term and does not jeopardize ecological sustainability must be our goal. There are alternatives to the Dhamra port site, and the legitimate needs of the state can be met from existing and other planned ports. There is thus no need for a port in this environmentally critical location.
TATA Steel has chosen to interpret the Precautionary Principle to suit their own convenience. Precaution would necessitate NOT building a port in this critical location, rather than seeking to minimize damage while the port is being built and operated. By touting the IUCN mitigation plan as evidence that they are abiding by the Precautionary Principle, it is clear that TATA is selectively choosing to what degree it abides by the principle of precaution.

The question remains for how many years nature will pay the cost of human development. From Cheetahs to tigers, Asiatic lions, bustards, vultures and many more. They all suffer from one condition human greed and habitat destruction. Does our future lie in a barren lifeless planet, where there are no birds singing the morning, no whales and turtles diving in the sea and no tigers growling in the jungles?
Please help them by visiting our blog. For more information on this you may also visit greenpeace.org/turtles.

Regards Jayesh Pillai