In the eastern coast of the country, there was a land which was once called 'Muthu Nagaram' or Pearl City. Today we know the same place from a tragic news report of a massacre.
A recent police firing in Tuticorin, once a treasure trove of gems and pearls, left more than a dozen people dead and many more injured as they protested against the copper smelter plant of Sterlite Industries.
The submerging Vaan islandThe once-bountiful port city of Tuticorin is now an infamous destination known for its polluting industries and its toxic environment that has been killing its people in every breath of air and every drop of water.
The land of Tuticorin flattens out into the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park.
Established in 1980, it is part of India's first marine biosphere reserve extending from Tuticorin to Rameshwaram in the Bay of Bengal and is reported to have recorded 117 species of hard coral and shelter 3,600 species of marine flora and fauna.
A dead coralThe underwater canvas of Tuticorin were mesmerising, only till pollution started sucking the life out of its delicate marine ecosystem.
Tuticorin stood 21st in a list of 94 polluted cities in the country identified by Central Pollution Control Board after a five-year study ending in 2015. It is also the only city in Tamil Nadu on the list.
The protestors at Tuticorin were demanding their right for livelihood and at the same time calling for a stop on the murderous invasion into the balance of nature.
Protestors have taken the war beyond the streets of Tuticorin and many have been waging a multifaceted and spirited war for long.
A 53-year-old scuba diver and painter, Uma, is one such eco-warrior who dives into the heart of the ocean and has carefully documented the irreversible loss of the marine life.
She is one among those who not only dives to the bottom of the 'matter' but ensures she carries a message up to the shores through her paintings.
She has been an eye witness to the deteriorating water quality that has caused immense destruction of the ecosystem and habitat through coral disease and bleaching.
In this part of the world, it is not an isolated sight to spot pale dead corals floating along the coast and one need look no much further to see what killed them.
Two coastal islands have already disappeared due to increasing sea levels and a third - Vaan Island - is on the verge of submersion.
A 53-year-old scuba diver and painter, Uma, is one such eco-warrior who dives into the heart of the ocean and has carefully documented the irreversible loss of the marine life.Her paintings feature the devastation she has seen in the deaths of the sea, and carries the agony of an environmentally conscious citizen on the irreversible damage she continues to witness.
A concern we all must share
Not just underwater, a walk alongside the Buckle Canal at Tuticorin offers the shocking sight of not just sewage but also industrial waste that ultimately end up in the bowels of the sea.
Scientists say irresponsible fishing and coral mining that continued for three decades, until it was stopped in 2005, also sounded the death knell of Vaan Island, very close to Tuticorin.
Dead and dying corals from Tuticorin seaOn both the sides of the Buckle Canal are fishermen communities, exposed to the pollution on a daily basis. “It’s the same industries killing us and the corals. You will find a cancer patient in every second house here," a few women said.
One even had four cancer patients in her family. They claimed a class 10 girl gave her board exam from home as she has cancer.
With rising marine pollution, more than 700 fish varieties in the Gulf of Mannar have already become extinct. In future, the large fishing community based in Tuticorin is set to face a crisis as fish yields fall.
Priya Thuvasseri and her teamPearls, corals and fishes have decreased drastically in the sea here. “Corals got dissolved, pearls disappeared and fishing yield has decreased," said Paramasivam, a leader of the fishermen community in Tuticorin.
In his childhood, he said, fishes were so plenty that even a fishing rod was enough for a family to fish.
But today Tuticorin is no more the rich port town that had attracted the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British to its shore for its abundant pearls.
The protesters who came out on the streets protesting against the Sterlite Copper smelting plant bore the brunt of the environmental hazards posed by the plant.
The National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) reports that Sterlite, owed by Anil Agarwal's Vedanta group, contaminated the groundwater with arsenic, lead, selenium, aluminium and copper.
Most of the companies here, including Sterlite, in Tuticorin were within a 14-km radius from the city centre.
Shockingly, Sterlite did not even have to submit Environment Impact Assessment report to get the NOC when it began operations.
It had violated crucial green norms, including those on location limits and green buffer zones, mandated by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
Not just Sterlite
Companies in tuticorin spit smokeHeavy industries and a thermal power station dump their waste into the sea and spit toxic gases through their chimneys day and night.
As polluting industries dot the Tuticorin coast, it is evident the Coastal Regulation Zone notifications that restrict the setting up and expansion of industrial zones and disposal of hazardous waste in the coastal zone have been ignored.
A stroll through Tuticorin would expose severe pollution of the town and the increasing anger among people against Sterlite.
Men wearing anti-Sterlite T-shirts can be spotted on the roads and posters against the company could be seen across the town.
Locals are frustrated as their complaints go unheeded.
Priya ThuvasseriLike everywhere, the fight for life is always the fight for nature, and that is a battle that can never be given up- even here in Tuticorin where gems of struggle are beginning to shine bright.
(The author was at the coast of Tuticorin to shoot a documentary film on coral reefs and a scuba diver from Tamil Nadu. She was at Tuticorin shooting a documentary 'Coral woman' on the green crusader Uma)
