Thousands of villagers gather to oppose Vadhavan Port during public hearing

uring the hearing, villagers objected to various issues, especially about the port’s non-compliance with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines

MUMBAI: Thousands of villagers from 30 villages that are likely to be affected by the Vadhavan Port gathered to express their opposition on Friday during the public hearing for India’s largest deep draft port, off Vadhavan beach in the eco-sensitive Dahanu taluka in Palghar district, amidst heavy police presence.

Thousands of villagers from 30 villages gathered in Palghar for the public hearing.

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) at the District Sports Complex Ground conducted the hearing along with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) officers around 11 am and went on till 4.45 pm when it was abruptly closed and around 3,500 people – mostly locals – who were waiting for their turn to be heard, were asked to submit written objections.

During the hearing, villagers objected to various issues, especially about the port’s non-compliance with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines. They also alleged that the public hearing was kept 30 km away from the project area to restrict participation, which was another major objection in the hearing.

Furthermore, they claimed that the email address displayed in one of the advertisements was incorrect, which misled people who wished to communicate their objections and suggestions about the project to the authorities.

The MPCB officers could not answer several of the issues raised by the participants of this public hearing and replied to most of the issues by saying, ‘the point is noted.’

“The public hearing of the proposed Vadhavan Port was conducted hastily with incomplete and inadequate environment survey reports,” Vaibhav Vaze, secretary, Vadhavan Bandar Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, said. “This hearing was imposed on the people at an inappropriate location and proper time to express their views to the affected people was not given.”

APM Terminals (Netherlands) and the JNPA have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a container terminal at Vadhavan.

Over 1,500 police personnel were deployed for the public hearing, as the authorities apprehended some disturbance during the hearing and included three teams of the State Reserve Protection Force (SRPF), one team of the Quick Response Team (QRT), and 30 personnel of the Striking Force and 70 traffic policemen.

Vadhavan port was initially planned as the Dahanu coal terminal in the 1990s, but the project fell into dormancy after 1998, when the Supreme Court-appointed Dahanu Taluka Environment Protection Authority (DTEPA) called the project ‘wholly impermissible and illegal,’ as it was prohibited in the Dahanu eco-sensitive zone, in its in 1991 notified.

The project was, however, revived in 2015 when a special-purpose vehicle was set up by the JNPA and the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB). On July 31, 2023, the DTEPA – with new chairman and new members – cleared the way for the construction of Vadhavan port and permitted JNPA to approach the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for environment clearance. The union ministry has already granted in-principal approval for the port in October 2020.

Concerns around the project were bolstered in April 2020, when the CPCB declassified ports, harbours and jetties as ‘industrial activities’. Two months later, the MoEFCC issued a clarification stating that these activities would be permitted in eco-sensitive areas, including the Dahanu ESZ.

The move drew the ire of locals, eventually leading to a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order in June 2021, staying any further work on the port’s planning and construction. The green court also directed the MoEFCC to form an expert committee to reconsider whether ports and harbours could be permitted as non-industrial activities within ecologically fragile areas. In May 2022, the Union Environment Ministry ‘reclassified’ the list of permissible, regulated activities in the Dahanu taluka and allowed the construction of ports and harbours.

According to Conservation Action Trust, which too opposed the port, the proposed port is to have a traffic handling capacity of 308 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA) at 14 Terminals having 26 berths.

The total project area would be 17,471 ha out of which 16,900 ha has been declared as Port Limit which will have three components -- waterfront of 153615 ha, reclamation and landfilling of 1,473 ha for intertidal zone with 200 MCuM and berth area of 63.5 ha. The remaining 571 Ha area would be outside of the Port Limit.