Kutch's Ravaged Eden

Union home minister L.K. Advani is slated to dedicate the Gujarat Adani Port Ltd (GAPL) in Kutch to the nation on January 23. And when he does so, he will also be giving his stamp of approval to the systematic degradation of what scientists at the Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology (GIDE) say is among the last of the arid mangrove forests in the world. Already, a 100-sq km stretch of rare mangrove forest in the Kutch area has been destroyed in four years to facilitate the port and the container terminal.

The forests, unique in India, are vital since they are one of the few remaining pockets of vegetation which can survive in arid and saline conditions. The mangroves, says the Marine and Water Resources Division (MRD) of ISRO's Remote Sensing Applications Centre, are crucial for the following reasons:

They're the primary nursery area for several commercially-important fish species. They're also a vital nursery for other species that form key links in the food chain.

Mangroves stabilise shorelines and the banks of rivers and estuaries, offering protection from ocean currents and cyclones.

N.D. Chhaya, ex-commissioner, fisheries, Gujarat, says the area generates some 8 lakh kg of fish a year in a 10-month season, with a local value of Rs 45 crore. The entire marine economy is estimated at Rs 1,200 crore.

The ISRO report speaks of 31 species of flora and fauna in the belt which could be destroyed by the clearing of the mangroves.

There were reasons enough for clearance not to be given to the port. Various feasibility reports which largely went against the Adanis - one of India's fastest-growing industrial houses - were ignored. So were the Environmental Impact Assessment reports that classified the area as a crz-1 (Coastal Regulatory Zone), where central environmental laws prohibit land development. Even ISRO, with GIDE, had pointed out to the state the alarming decrease of mangrove cover in the proposed port area. But the report was ignored, says an ISRO official.

The Adanis vehemently deny their company has had any hand in the mangrove destruction, but the feedback Outlook got from locals is that vested interests were cutting them down and once a tract was made bare, the Adanis would move in and claim the land since it wasn't forested. (However, a company executive, in a late response, claimed the Adani group was going in for major afforestation in the area and "50,000 plants are in the offing".)

Similarly, there is no explanation for the cement bunds that have sprung up along the Kutch coast that have starved the mangrove forests of vital seawater. As a result, more forest land is wiped out, making it a barren tract ready for development. For this, the Adanis have an explanation - "most of the constructions/operations are being carried out by our contractors. We don't have control over their decisions".

The Adanis, it's alleged, first cut mangroves and were penalised by the forest department in 1996. In October '98, it's further alleged, mangroves were cleared on a large scale from Navinal island to meet the criterion that there was no vegetation in the area. ISRO's study, based on images it has collated over the years from its remote-sensing satellites, reveals the mangrove cover has fallen over the years. There are other allegations as well, of human displacement. In their zeal to remove all hurdles to the fast-track project, it is said some 500 fishing families were evicted from Navinal island to prove the development activity was being carried out in an uninhabited area.

"I don't want money. I don't need charity. Just restore my means of survival and livelihood," says Jenabai Jusup, part of a generations-old fishermen's clan. She adds that "officials" from the Adani group of companies ousted her family, among others, almost overnight from the Navinal Island creek where they had been settled for decades - in fact, they first occupied the land under a decree by the Sultan of Kutch. The Adani official, however, said that "a few fishermen who were staying near the port have relocated themselves on their own".

The official also claimed "there was no commercial fishing in or around Mundra". However, till their eviction, local fishermen survived on a marine economy, with 63 species of fish and crustaceans (including crab, lobster and oyster) apart from 41 bird species, resident and migratory, populating the once-lush mangroves - nearly 60 per cent of their catch was exported. The last of the arid mangroves yielded a rich collection of fish eggs and larvae. Now there is no fish breeding at all around the land reclaimed by GAPL and a newly-tarred access road runs through where mangroves once existed. Jenabai and other fisher families have now pitched camp at the gates of GAPL.

It's not just the fisherfolk who complain. Farmers are equally concerned. Contrary to public perception, Kutch isn't all desert. There's a thriving green belt that produces mainly fresh dates - kharik, the only one of its kind in the world. Horticulture, orchardry and animal husbandry also thrives.

But here again, there are allegations of indiscriminate reclamation and acquisition of farmland by the Adanis. Farmers tempted to sell out now find themselves without a sustainable means of livelihood. Says Sandeep Virmani of the Forum for Planned Industrialisation of Kutch (FPIK), "This is a battle of one economy versus another. Traditional economies are being destroyed in the name of industrialisation."

GIDE, a state-run body, is more forthright. Says director Y.D. Singh: "The kind of industrialisation that is going on in the traditional mangrove regions offers no equity at all. One man gets it all. If the mangroves were to be left as they were, equity comes to all. Almost 1.4 lakh fishermen would have got a piece of the Rs 1,200 crore the area used to generate annually."

But not all locals are against industrialisation per se. The FPIK identifies areas where salt pans, power projects, oil refineries, cement and other planned projects could come up (closer to the Rann with some help from the railways). Others hope new projects will generate employment. Hussain Toork of the still-green Dhrab village isn't so hopeful. "The economics of Kutch hinges on kharik and fisheries. The latter has almost been completely ruined. I'm afraid this environment-unfriendly industrialisation will dry out the 20 per cent green belt of Kutch. Since no local employment is offered, we would all be completely destroyed."

But how did the Adanis swing it? The group is known for its clout and environmentalists - whom a company executive dismisses as "local people raising unnecessary noise" - say Gujarat's environment ministry is unduly supportive of the group. Why, even Advani, despite two dri cases against the CMD and executive director of the company, agreed to be present at the inauguration of the port. There was more trouble brewing prior to his visit, with a Mundra bandh called by irate locals and a fast-unto-death by four boys (one is in a serious condition) whose canteens in the port area had been demolished.

So what can be done to salvage the situation? S.R. Nayak, head of the ISRO's MRD shows a way out: reforestation of the mangroves and restoration of the habitat in areas which are already not beyond repair. And, hopefully, a greater effort in future to prevent cases of such degradation.