The proposed Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions (PCPIR) at Nayachar will cause serious environmental disturbances once it comes onstream, pointed out experts of social organisations, Teachers and Scientists against Maldevelopment (TASAM) and Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action (DISHA).
Dumping of wastage on the river Hooghly could endanger the livelihoods of around two lakh fishermen along the coastal area of the state, claimed H Debnath, member of the National Fisheries Development Board.
"Over one lakh ton of fish is produced per year by the state contributing around Rs 670 crore to the foreign exchange reserves of our nation," he said. Citing an example, Debnath said, due to the petrochemical industry at Jamnagar, fish production from the adjacent Gulf of Kutch area had dropped from six lakh to four lakh ton, over the past few years. "Nothing was done inspite of repeatedly writing letters to the ministry of environment and forest, government of India," he pointed out.
Santanu Chokroborty, representing DISHA, said the project proposal stated that the water of the river Hooghly would be used as a 'buffer', in other words as a kind of toxic shock absorber, which was one of the worst instances of environmental insensitivity. Samar Bagchi, representing TASAM informed that setting up petrochemical and petroleum units in the northern countries of the world were difficult, since it involved various stages of approval, hence the shift was now towards the southern countries for setting up the industries leading to environment destruction in order to cater to the demands of those countries.