The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Sethu project: Government approach `not participatory'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Nov 08, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Sethu project: Government approach `not participatory'

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, NOV. 7. Kicking off its ocean conservation programme in India, the international environmental campaign organisation, Greenpeace, today urged the Government to adopt a "precautionary approach" to all its projects to prevent irreversible damage to the environment.

"We must err on the side of caution rather than on adventure," the Greenpeace executive director in India, G. Ananthapadmanabhan, said. "Many damages are irreversible," he told mediapersons at the Chennai Port.

Referring to the Sethusamudram project, Mr. Ananthapadmanabhan said the State Government's fast-track approach was not participatory.It did not attach importance to public hearings to receive inputs from the stakeholders.The main purpose of the visit of Rainbow Warrior, Greenpeace's flagship, to Chennai was to bring together organisations that took up environmental issues. With an increase in population and industrial activity, the country's coastal areas were facing a direct threat of pollution. Most projects along the coast werelinked to the livelihood of traditional fishermen.

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