Setback to Essar? Green Tribunal appoints committee to ascertain "destruction" to Gujarat's eco-sensitive zone

By A Representative
The National Green Tribunal (NGT), Pune Bench, has appointed a three-member court commission comprising of three Government of India officials to ascertain the environmental destruction, if any, caused by the Essar Bulk Terminal Ltd to the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, situated in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat.
One of India’s topmost corporate houses, Essar has been setting up what it calls “a world-class marine infrastructure project with a state-of-the-art material handling facility at Salaya”, with the capability of handling 20 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) of cargo. The project is said to cost around Rs 1,000 crore.
Located in Salaya harbour, which is naturally protected by two islands – Kalubhar Tapu and Dhani Be – the jetty would be spread over 320,000 square metres. Its dry bulk facility proposes to handle the import of dry bulk cargo like coal, limestone, fertilisers and bauxite.

Those who will form part of the court commission are – director, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), a senior scientist of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), and director, Marine National Park and Sanctuary, Jamnagar. It has been asked to submit its report before July 26, 2017.
Interpreted as a big jolt to one of India’s most powerful corporate houses, the NGT bench consisting of Justice UD Salvi and Dr Ajay Deshpande in an order said that the “local investigation” should be carried out to ascertain the extent of constructions going on and carried out by Essar.
Especially seeking to know the how much of “soil-bund” had been constructed, the order also wants the team to find out the navigation route as well as location of the constructions in the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, possible impact on the tidal water current, and destruction of mangroves, if any, in and around the Salaya Creek.
The order came in response to an application by the Salaya Fishermen’s Association, which claimed that Essar had undertaken “illegal” constructions by Essar encroaching upon the protected the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) of the Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary, resulting into destruction of mangroves, obstruction to inter-tidal water in Salaya Creek, which is harmful to environment and biodiversity.
The Essar Bulk Terminal, however, said that it did not carry out any illegal construction.
Appearing on behalf of the Salaya Fishermen’s Association, advocate Asim Sarode submitted before the NGT that the notification dated August 22, 2013 declared an area admeasuring 326.26 sq.km around of Salaya Marine National Park and Sanctuary as ESZ, of which 208.58 sq km was towards landward side, 105.14 sq km towards seaward site, and 12.54 sq km area was covered by rivers.

Hence, Sarode argued, the communication dated April 28, 2014 by the chief conservator of forests, Marine National Park, Jamnagar, was “not a complete disclosure of the facts”, and that the Essar Bulk Terminal had not produced any layout or sanction-plan for the construction of the project.
On examining the letter, NGT decided to ascertain the exact location of the Essar Bulk Terminal where the proposed marine facilities, including conveyor corridor and jetty, were being constructed.
A preliminary examination of the letter suggested that the nearest point of the ESZ from the jetty was just 150 meters, and the distance of 4.6 hectare forest land diverted for the purpose was approximately 1.9 km from the nearest point of national park and sanctuary.

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Search This Blog