Rs 2700-cr scam killing TN coast

PORT OF DISTRESS: The sea city’s port expansion needs 400 acres of seafront land.

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Puducherry: A 2,700-crore land scam is brewing on the beaches of Puducherry. The sea city’s port expansion needs 400 acres of seafront land.

The government acquired 200 acres 15 years ago at Rs 2 per square foot, and gave it to the developer, Subhash Projects.

Now villages like Thengaithittai are being evicted, for just Rs 15 per square foot, even as the developer plans to sell the land at Rs 5,000 per square foot to hoteliers who have big plans.

“We are planning to start cruise liners and will build one hotel to put up passengers of cruise ships,” says consultant to Subhash Projects, Amit Bagaria.

Cruise liners carry up to 8,000 passengers. The builder has taken advantage of an ambiguous order from the Madras High Court, which prohibits real estate development on port land, but allows for hotels to put up tourists coming in on cruise liners.

Also, the contract with the developer says the state government will pay for all the environmental damage that takes place during the construction processes etc.

“They pollute everything, the company that does it and gains everything from it will not be responsible for taking any mitigating action. The government has to,” says an activist Balamohan, Activist

After a PIL by Balamohan, the Madras High Court has sought an explanation as to why the project was given to a developer with no experience in building ports.

Subhash Projects got the contract, even though Larsen and Toubro was the highest bidder.

Residents of Puducherry are also protesting the port expansion due to environmental reasons.

The ground water is turning salty, sand-logging is hampering fishing, and the coastline is getting eroded. So is the Puducherry port simply a front for a larger commercial venture, at the cost of livelihoods and the environment? Only time will tell.