Social activist Medha Patkar on Tuesday expressed concerns about threats to the Sharavathi river from multiple development projects, such as the Honnavar port project, bringing the matter to the attention of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has promised to intervene.
Patkar warned that the proposed Sharavathi pumped storage project would result in the felling of over 16,000 trees, severely impacting wildlife, including the endangered lion-tailed macaque. “The constant drilling will destroy the pristine Western Ghats,” she stated while releasing in Bengaluru a fact-finding report titled “Eroding Shores, Silenced Protests” on the Honnavar port project.
The activist highlighted how downstream, the proposed Honnavar port in Uttara Kannada district—where the Sharavathi river meets the Arabian Sea—threatens to destroy estuaries and mangroves, affecting fishing communities’ livelihoods. “The two projects will destroy the entire ecosystem. Everyone has seen what happened in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and parts of the Western Ghats when ecology is disturbed,” Patkar warned.
Parkar said, “What development is and what it is not is a critical question for us to ask when we look at a project like the Honavar port Project. We celebrate Water Day, Earth Day, Environment Day, but are we heeding the warnings that thousands of scientists have given us? It is no longer just the indigenous communities, river communities, and fishing communities that the current development paradigm ruins, but climate change and global warming threaten all humans, animals, and plants with extinction. We need to ask ourselves, if we call this development, then it is development at whose cost, but also whose benefit? Honavar fishing communities are selling fish not just to neighbouring villages, but dried fish from Honavar are sold all across countries in Asia. This too is development, while maintaining dignified women-centric livelihoods. This too is development, but in a way that doesn’t destroy nature.”
Medha Patkar meets Siddaramaiah
Patkar said that she had met Siddaramaiah along with Chief Secretary Shalini Rajneesh. “The CM has promised that he would look into the issue. He has also directed that the false FIRs registered against fisherfolk be withdrawn,” she said.
Rajesh Tandel, president of the fisher workers association, Karavalli Meenugaarara Karmikara Sangha, said that despite their opposition to the project since 2010, the police and district administration have continued a survey for the project.
“They have slapped 32 false cases on me alone so far to intimidate us into submission. D K Shivkumar came to Honavar prior to the elections and promised that they would stand along with the fishing communities of Honnavar, but even one year after coming to power, where are they now? Why don’t they stand with us?” he asked.
What is the Honnavar port project?
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In 2010, Honnavar Port Private Limited was granted permission to build a commercial port. The port is planned across 44 hectares of land belonging to five fishing villages -Tonka 1, Tonka 2, Pavinkurva, Mallukurva, and Honnavar Rural. There are two components of the development of the port: the construction of the port (44 hectares), and the construction of a four-lane 4-km road connecting the port to NH66.
Locals and environmental activists have been opposing the project, stating that it would affect the ecology of the region. The fact-finding report says that the environmental clearance obtained was more than a decade old and has expired. The report also says that false reports were submitted claiming there are no olive ridley turtles in Honnavar, because the survey was done in August when turtles don’t visit shores.