The Supreme Court on February 1 upheld the National Green Tribunal’s order in 2020, to demolish an edible oil storage facility constructed by two companies, joint ventures of KTV Group and Adani Wilmar Limited. https://thewire.in/environment/adani-joint-venture-ktv-oil-mills-health-food 

In 2016, fisherfolk in north Chennai – near Chennai Port – began questioning the impacts of a storage facility that was located close to the fishing villages of Thiruchirakuppam, Thazhankuppam and several others. They started noticing frequent oil leaks from the 7 km-long pipeline from the harbour to the storage facility set up by the K.T.V. companies, said M.R. Thiagarajan, president of the Meenava Thanthai Selvarajkumar Sangam, a local organisation that takes up fishers’ issues.

Oil would sometimes spill on to the ground; but oil leaks into the sea nearby would frequently result in fish kills – fish would die and rise to the water surface – claimed Thiagarajan.  

“When that happens, fish do not venture into the area for at least three months and this results in low fish catch,” the 57-year-old fisherman told The Wire.

by Aathira Perinchery

05/02/2023

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