Lynal : protesting against a polluting company

Ongoing protest to demand the closure of Coromandel's fertilizer plant

 

On 26th December, ammonia gas leaked from a sub-sea pipeline of the Coromandel International Limited cement plant in Ennore. The winds carried the fumes to Periakuppam, a settlement next to the Coromandel factory. There, news of the leak was passed on by people to each other, knocking on doors, calling on the phone. People hurried out of their neighborhood in autos, 2-wheelers, and on foot. Many fainted and were admitted to government hospitals. There were 52 recorded cases of ammonia poisoning.

The next morning people from 33 settlements of Ennore started a protest demanding the permanent closure of the Coromandel plant. On the first day, people from each of the villages stood on the main road outside their village. On subsequent days, they started sitting outside the gate of the Coromandel factory. The plant has been a polluter for a long time, but this time, "we were face to face with death", said one protester after another. Their protest is ongoing and is now in its sixtieth day.

We talk to Lynal, a protest organizer from Thazhankuppam, one of the 33 settlements.

Lynal says, "I got a call about the ammonia leak at around 11:30 pm on the 26th. We called the police. We tried to go towards Periakuppam to help people, but the fumes were too strong and we had to return. I called my contacts to arrange transportation. The company neither had a warning system, nor did they assist with transporting people. We assisted people in their hour of need. The government should have honored us for this. Instead, my friends and myself got police cases registered against us! We were targeted because we were distributing water and biscuits to the protesters on the morning after the incident."

Lynal

Lynal is in his early fifties. I ask him how Ennore has transformed in his lifetime.

"I am a fisherman, and a native of Ennore. My father was a fisherman here. So was my grandfather. We have been living here harmoniously with nature for generations. In Ennore, fishing used to be the main activity. Across the Kosasthalaiar river in Minjur, there was agriculture. We exchanged our fish for rice, puli and chillies.

I started fishing after finishing tenth standard. Back then, we would drink the river water. Being an estuary, the water was slightly salty. While going out to fish, we never put salt in the food we took with us, we would just mix that water into our food. But now the river is so dirty, we can't even put our feet in it."

Lynal continues, "Fishermen are strong people. I used to play kabaddi in my youth. As I have grown older, I have seen people get more sick. My wife is going to have a uterus operation. About half the women in Ennore end up having this operation."

“Even long ago, the Coromandel factory was polluting. In the late 80s, the groundwater was found to be polluted in the areas adjoining the factory. The pipeline was installed in 1995, before that ammonia used to be delivered to the factory in trucks. The pipeline in 1995 allowed the company to increase production. Some people raised their voices about the increased pollution, but police cases were put on them. The company distributed arisi-paruppu (rice and dal) to communities living near the factory.”

“Similar to Coromandel, the thermal power plants also keep expanding. They keep adding units – Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3.. They illegally dump ash into the Kosasthalaiar estuary, drastically reducing the depth of the water. They also dump hot water, killing the fish.” Ennore is a peninsula with the Bay of Bengal in the east and the estuary in the west. But now they can fish in neither waters -- "we are trapped between the port in the sea and industries polluting the river", says Lynel.

“The oil leak (during the Michaung storm on December 4th) from the Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited factory further decimated fishing. Our boats were destroyed by the oil. Fishermen didn’t go to fish for 45 days after the leak. The compensation given to us is nowhere close to the losses.”

"Our government is fully with the corporates, they do not serve ordinary people at all. They allow companies to make more and more profit without providing any job opportunities. We have been protesting for so many days, but they issue government orders without consulting us. They have treated the people of Ennore with utter disdain."

"Coromandel’s ammonia pipeline came (in 1995) with a 100-year guarantee, but prior to this leaking incident, there have been at least four other incidents of leaking from this pipeline. Bubbles have come out of the pipe. Every time there is a leak, fish die. Even last year this happened. People weren't affected in the past incidents because the leak was confined to under water. We tell this to the media but they never report it. We are asked for evidence. But why do we have to provide evidence? Why doesn't the government investigate?”

“At one point, experts from Germany repaired this pipeline and put a joint in it. A pipeline like this is not supposed to have a joint! Even this time, two days before the leak, people working on the pipeline said that it was damaged. We know those workers, they are from Periakuppam." The damage in the pipeline reported by the Periakuppam workers is in line with the TNPCB technical report which says that the pipeline was likely damaged during the Michaung storm.

"We don't need these polluting companies. Ennore has had a vibrant life long before these companies came. This is not a place that grew as a result of industrial development. Even now, if the river is cleaned up, we can be self-sufficient. We won't even need rations from the government."

“People are making many sacrifices to keep the protest going. For the first month, nobody went fishing. After that, they have been taking turns. I have been here all the time. I am not able to take my wife to the hospital, I am not bringing an income for the household, and there is fear of police cases. But I am pushing on so that the people of Ennore can be safe.“

“This company can either close, or if they want to keep their employees, they can switch to producing something else that is safer. They can not continue in this manner because our lives are threatened. Maranathhai neradiyaaga paarthuttom. (We had a near-death experience.) People fled their homes in whatever clothes they were wearing. Adhu kannu edira nikkithu. ( That scene will stay with us.)"