Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL), which was fined over ₹8 crore for polluting the Ennore Creek and failing to clear up the pollution by the National Green Tribunal recently, has begun work on doubling the existing railway line and levelling the area without permission, environmental activists said.

“In 2019, KPL began work illegally and was stopped after the State Coastal Zone Management Authority (SCZMA) undertook an inspection and ordered the work to be stopped. The Environment Ministry has not granted clearance for the project. But they have begun work on it without permission,” Pooja Kumar of the Coastal Resource Centre said.

According to Ms. Pooja, on both sides of the railway line for which a bridge is being built are inter-tidal salt pans and wetlands. Dumping concrete and construction debris will destroy the creek’s ecosystem, she said, adding that KPL had cut down full grown mangroves for building the bridge. She pointed out that in November 2019, the EAC had only recommended the project for CRZ clearance with conditions that no excavated material during construction will be dumped in the waterbodies or adjacent area and the area needs to be restored to its original condition after construction. The EAC had also recommended planting of mangroves five times the number of mangroves cut down for the project.