– Under the Sagarmala project, a government of India project, the Centre plans to construct roads passing through Chilika Lake, close to Bhitarkanika Wildlife Park in Kendrapara, along the 480km coastline of Odisha
TTI/GBT: The proposed 3.4km bridge over Chilika lake under the Sagarmala project has triggered a controversy in the state with environmentalists expressing concern over the safety of the flora and fauna of Asia’s largest brackish lake and a well known Ramsar site.
The bridge will also affect the free movement of dolphins and other fishes. Chilika lake has 154 endangered Irrawaddy dolphins and 19 bottlenose dolphins.
The bridge will connect Krushnaprasad, Satapada and Nalabana (Chilika) Wildlife Sanctuary with the mainland. Under the Sagarmala project, a government of India project, the Centre plans to construct roads passing through Chilika Lake, close to Bhitarkanika Wildlife Park in Kendrapara, along the 480km coastline of Odisha.
Convenor of Mahanadi Bachao Andolan (Save Mahanadi River), Sudarshan Das, said: “The proposed bridge would destroy the ecosystem of the Chilika lake and its biodiversity. It will adversely affect the livelihood of the local community depending on the Chilka lake for their sustainable livelihood.”
Das’s comments came after an expert panel visited the site last week. They visited the site to take a call on the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)’s request for a grant of permission.
Raising question about the integrity of the panel, Das said, “The NHAI had written a letter to the Odisha government on February 6 and acting upon the letter, the state government immediately swung into the action and formed a sub-committee on the recommendation of Expert Appraisal Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Within 48 hours of the letter, the committee visited the site. The way they expedited the
process raises questions about the integrity of the government.”
Citing how the Chilika’s diversity would be affected, Das said, “Once the bridge is constructed, thousands of vehicles will ply on that bridge causing environmental pollution. This would affect the health status of the lake.”
He said, “Hundreds of tonnes of silt will be dumped near the pillar of the bridge and, by the way, obstruct the natural flow of the water. We must remember that dozens of rivers bring thousands of tons of silt to the lake. However, the construction of hundreds of pillars would certainly affect the movement of silt. It will adversely affect the movement of creatures like dolphins.”
The noted environmentalist said, “We will resist the bridge’s construction. During construction, hundreds of tons of waste materials will also be dumped in the water of Chilika, that would bring destruction to the eco system.
Former IAS officer Aurobinda Behera said: “It will lead to destruction only. We don’t want such development to adversely impact our climate and ecology. We do have enough alternative roads.”
The site inspection was carried out after the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) raised environmental issues over the proposed bridge which would be built at a cost of around ₹526.08 crore.
Minister of fisheries and animal resources development Gokulananda Mallick said, “Let the proposal come to us, and we will re-look into it. Other departments are working on the viability of the project. Once the project comes to us, we will examine it. It will also be scrutinised by the Chilika Development Authority (CDA). We have to wait for that.”
