5 months ago
1
Residents of Kovalam Kuppam, on with those of the surrounding villages in Chengalpattu district, person requested the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways to intervene instantly and forestall obstruction of the Buckingham Canal by a reservoir task projected at Kovalam.
In a letter, they person highlighted the imaginable menace posed by Chennai’s sixth reservoir project, saying it volition artifact the earthy travel of the canal, a cardinal portion of National Waterway-4 (NW-4). The petition was submitted to the Secretary of the Union Ministry and the Chairman and Regional Director of the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
The residents person argued that the project, spearheaded by the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department, could severely interaction the livelihood of section sportfishing communities and marginalised groups, including the Adi Dravidar and tribal populations.
Under the National Waterways Act, 2016, the Buckingham Canal has been declared a nationalist waterway. Its absorption and attraction person been placed nether the jurisdiction of the Union government. The petitioners person said immoderate effort to change the people of the canal without support from the Centre volition magnitude to a usurpation of this ineligible framework.
“The obstruction of these waterbodies will person a devastating interaction connected our community’s entree to sportfishing resources and, by extension, our close to livelihood,” according to the letter.
The residents person called for a restraining bid to halt the project, requesting that the Tamil Nadu authorities beryllium prevented from interfering with the earthy travel of the Buckingham Canal. They person besides demanded extortion of the accepted sportfishing rights of these communities and person urged the IWAI to behaviour an on-site inspection and organise a nationalist proceeding to code the concerns of the section population.
