Express News Service Posted online: Sat Feb 12 2011, 03:39 hrs
Ahmedabad : Three fishermen from the region have moved the Gujarat High Court challenging the alleged bunding of the Surajbari Creek in Kutch district by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) to lay power transmission lines.
Ahmedabad : Three fishermen from the region have moved the Gujarat High Court challenging the alleged bunding of the Surajbari Creek in Kutch district by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) to lay power transmission lines.
In a Public Interest Litigation, the three have demanded direction to the authorities concerned to ask PGCIL to remove the bunding and pay compensation for the damage done to the local wildlife and livelihood of the poor fishermen.
Acting on the PIL, a division bench on Friday issued notices to the respondents and kept it for further hearing on March 14. According to the petition filed through advocate Anand Yagnik, the issue relates to the Surajbari area near the Little Rann of Kutch, where the biggest creek of the area falls close to the Gulf of Kutch and the famous Wild Ass Sanctuary is located.
The creek has been a good ground for the production of fish and prawns by the local traditional, small, and registered fishermen community residing nearby Cheravadi village. The area is also habitat of some rare aquatic lives and lakhs of Flamingos.
According to the petition, to set up the towers for the transmission of the power from a plant in Mundra, PGCIL has blocked the natural flow of the Surajbari creek by making kutcha (temporary) wall there. This is done to save cost in laying the towers in the seawater instead of using the latest technologies. And this, the petitioners say, has resulted in the water in the creek drying, affecting the wildlife in the region and the livelihood of the local fishermen.
The petitioners have stated that the alleged act has been done in violation of environmental laws. They say the region falls under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) and PGCIL did not take the mandatory permission from the CRZ authorities to carry out any activity in the region.
They further said that their representation in this regard before the authorities concerned have gone in vain. They have also demanded compensation to the fishermen who have been affected by the alleged embankment.
Also see related post Rann villagers up ante over Power Grid construction
To sign an online petition to support the Kutch Fishworkers' demands, click on http://www.gopetition.com/petition/40325.html
