Click to play videoPuducherrry: The Puducherry government's ambitious plans to expand the state's only port have left the people there up in arms. They say the Rs 2,700 crore project will erode beaches and turn groundwater salty.
Says a resident of Puducherry, Maharajan, "This new port will mean all our groundwater will go salty. We already have saline water due to the old port."
Adds a Puducherrry-based boat owner Muthuvel, "Our boats can't go into the sea due to the accumulation of sand. We're taking loans to feed our children."
The old Puducherrry port was built 20 years ago and experts say this is the prime cause of erosion of the Puducherry coastline.
Over seven km of the beach is already gone and in the near future, maybe the sea will come into Puducherry itself.
The widespread protests forced the government to hold a public hearing on Wednesday. The meeting was aimed at getting people's views on the project, but the public anger meant the meeting had to be postponed.
The work on the port will however continue. After completion, the port will be spread over 400 acres of land and will be able to handle up to 20 million tonnes of goods.
But the big question is that why does a port, which gets only 100,000 tonnes of cargo, needs to be expanded in such a big way?
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