A file photograph of fishers of Keni village close to Ankola in Uttara Kannada, leaping into the Arabian Sea to mark their protest in opposition to the proposed business port within the area, in February.
While the English model of the draft report, ready for the proposed all-weather deep-water port by JSW Infrastructure, is round 600 pages, the Kannada model is barely a 48-page govt abstract, which the fishers allege prevents the area people from understanding crucial particulars.
Access to data
“We are sending a authorized letter, and through the public listening to, our major demand can be to have a full EIA report in Kannada,” stated Sreeja Chakroborthy, environmental lawyer and founding father of Living Environment Advocacy Foundation. She famous that failure to offer a full draft in Kannada is a violation of the Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act, 2022.
“Most of the native folks can perceive solely Kannada. There is a robust demand that they don’t need the general public listening to until the 600-page EIA report is translated and given in English,” she stated.
According to her, though the EIA draft ought to have been circulated in seven village panchayats, solely two have obtained it.
‘Hasty job’
According to consultants, not solely has the report been finished swiftly, however a comparability of the English and Kannada variations reveals discrepancies between the 2.
“They have finished a three-month research from December 2024 to February 2025. Normally, to know the scenario in an space, one 12 months is the necessary time to arrange an EIA,” stated Soumya Dutta, trustee at Movement for Advancing Understanding of Sustainability and Mutuality. Mr. Dutta was within the area to evaluate the scenario on the invitation of native communities.
He famous that though the corporate claims that a big a part of the port can be on reclaimed land, it will nonetheless consequence within the displacement of the normal fishers’ fishing grounds.
According to him, the environmental influence of the port proposed on the western aspect of the Western Ghats area will probably be big, ensuing within the blocking of drainage channels and flooding.
Multiple discrepancies
V.N. Nayak, a marine biologist from Ankola, has written to the Deputy Commissioner of Uttara Kannada district mentioning a number of “discrepancies” between the 2 variations of the report and highlighting the essential gaps in them.
He famous that whereas the Kannada model initially talked about that the undertaking is a personal port, it later termed it as ‘public-private participation.’ In the English model, there isn’t a point out of public participation, he identified.
While the draft EIA report mentions the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) as the one main port alongside the shoreline of Karnataka, Nayak factors out that there are three ports in Karnataka, with two ports — Karwar and Belekeri — within the Uttara Kannada area itself.
“Expansion of Karwar port is already below manner, and the cargo talked about to be imported and exported from the proposed port is similar as in Karwar. In Honnavar’s Kasarkod-tonka village, a port is proposed, and two extra are in line. Would we nonetheless want this port when all these upcoming ports turn into operational?” he questioned.
Locals protest
In February, a whole lot of fishers jumped into the Arabian Sea to mark their protest in opposition to the proposed port. Most of the protesters have been ladies.
The ₹6,515-crore undertaking will occupy 457 acres for a reclaimed foreshore facility. Further, land can be acquired for highway, rail and pipeline corridors and storage amenities. Almost 7,500 conventional fishers from almost 2,000 households stay inside a 5km radius of the undertaking web site, and so they concern that the port would detrimentally have an effect on their livelihoods.
Published – August 21, 2025 11:38 pm IST
