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After the twin industrial disasters of the Coromandel gas leak and the Chennai Petroleum Company Limited’s (CPCL) oil spill in Ennore, the Tamil Nadu government had promised a slate of restoration and civic projects. Two years on, most of these projects remain incomplete or abandoned, even as the state pushes ahead with a proposed 22,000-acre industrial township and plans for three new thermal power plants.
A new report by the Save Ennore Creek Campaign — titled ‘Report Card on Tamil Nadu Government’s Performance on Promised Improvement of Environmental, Health and Economic Status of Ennore-Manali Region’ — shows that the government’s much-publicised plans for environmental restoration and civic improvement have seen little progress.
Of the 22 projects announced across various government departments, only two have been completed satisfactorily. The report, released by retired Madras High Court judge D Hariparanthaman, IIT Madras professor Kalpana Karunakaran, and others, has given the state government an overall score of 9% for its performance.
The analysis covers the work of 22 departments, including the Public Works Department (PWD), Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), Forest Department, and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
Projects abandoned
Key restoration efforts, such as the removal of sediments from the mouth of the Ennore Creek under the PWD and the diversion of 1.8 million litres of sewage per day entering the creek under the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (CMWSSB), have been abandoned midway.
According to the report, dredging up to 550 metres upstream “has not been done”. Fishermen in Nettukuppam said dredged sand was instead dumped near the hot-water discharge point along the northern riverbank and at nearby villages such as Thazhankuppam, blocking boat movement into the sea. “Discharge of hot water from the NCTPS (North Chennai Thermal Power Station) is eroding the riverbed and silting up the estuary,” the report notes.
A one-time cleanup of 295 tonnes of solid waste dumped into the Ennore Creek has also not been completed; waste continues to be disposed of in the wetlands. A mangrove restoration project initiated by the Forest Department has lost momentum — the planting remains incomplete, and saplings are stunted due to poor maintenance.
Skill development programmes for local youth and the formation of emergency response teams to deal with hazardous incidents have similarly stalled.
The TNPCB had also planned to set up an emergency response centre at Manali, with representatives from industries, government departments, and local communities. The centre was meant to organise health camps, mock drills, and awareness programmes.
However, the project remains unimplemented l even after a series of accidents underscored the urgent need for such preparedness. In December 2023, a crude oil leak from the CPCL refinery spread across eight villages, affecting around 20,000 people. Weeks later, a leak of 67.6 metric tonnes of ammonia gas from the Coromandel International Limited fertiliser plant hospitalised 44 people.
A history of unchecked industrialisation
Ennore’s environmental collapse has been decades in the making. In 1970, the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), then known as the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, established the Ennore Thermal Power Station (ETPS), the state’s first coal-based plant. Since then, the area has become a dense industrial corridor.
According to The People’s Plan for Eco-restoration of Ennore Wetlands, a report by the Coastal Resource Centre, there are now 36 large, “red-category” industries operating in the Ennore-Manali region, including power plants, petrochemical and fertiliser factories, and oil refineries. The coastline also hosts two major ports — Kamarajar (formerly Ennore) port and Adani Kattupalli Port — as well as an oil refinery under CPCL with a capacity of 11.5 million metric tonnes of oil per annum.
These projects have transformed Ennore’s wetlands and floodplains into an industrial wasteland, with mangroves destroyed, fly ash filling the creeks, and toxic discharges contaminating soil and groundwater.
More industries on the horizon
Despite repeated environmental crises, the government has continued to push for new large-scale industrial projects. A long-promised carrying capacity study and safety audit for the Ennore–Manali industrial belt — meant to assess whether the ecosystem can sustain further development — has not been conducted.
Meanwhile, projects that would further burden the region are advancing. The Chennai Peripheral Expressway, which will connect the Kattupalli ports to the East Coast Road, is expected to cut through the Araniyar–Kosasthalaiyar floodplains — areas rich in groundwater and vital for flood mitigation.
The government has also proposed a 655-acre Heavy Engineering Hub under the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TNUDC) in Kattur–Ebramapuram and the Ponneri Industrial Township Area. This project would convert 2,200 acres of poromboke commons, including 1,734 acres of wetlands, into industrial real estate serving the Adani and Kamarajar ports.
At the same time, three new power plants — NCTPS Stage III (800 MW), Ennore SEZ (1,320 MW) and Ennore Thermal Power Station Expansion (660 MW) — are in various stages of planning, further threatening the region’s air quality and public health.
Industries flout court orders and norms
The report also highlights widespread non-compliance with court and NGT orders by industries in Ennore. Directives to replace faulty pipelines leaking fly ash into the creek have been ignored. A Joint Expert Committee had earlier found that 56.7 lakh metric tonnes of fly ash were dumped in and around the creek.
Thermal power plants have also failed to meet emission standards for sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. “None of the three plants — NCTPS I, NCTPS II, and NTECL — were fully compliant with emission norms or monitoring requirements,” the report states. “They either violated emission norms or had invalid data that did not span the entire 3-month winter period when atmospheric conditions worsened ground-level air quality.”
Residents of Ennore report tangible effects of this pollution. “The polluted state of the river has hurt the local economy, as fishers’ livelihoods have suffered and fishers’ purchasing power has diminished. Poor air quality has increased the burden of health care expenditure. Poor quality of education in government schools is pushing parents to spend more for education in private schools,” the report says.
Women bear the brunt
The report underscores that Ennore’s women are bearing a disproportionate share of this crisis. With the fisheries economy in decline and few alternative jobs available locally, women have been pushed out of paid work.
“Jobs are of poor quality, with insecure tenure,” the report says. “Options for women are absent in local industries. Participation and contribution of women in the fisher economy, the only local ‘industry’ with opportunities for a large female workforce, have drastically declined because of pollution-related decline of fisheries.”
Women also face longer commutes due to poor transport infrastructure, limiting their ability to seek work in the city. “The lack of career opportunities and the inability to repay debts incurred for medical expenses are taking a toll on women’s mental health,” the report adds, noting that alcoholism among men and adolescents has worsened the burden on households.
Healthcare, too, remains inadequate. The Kathivakkam Primary Health Centre, which once handled prenatal care and vaginal births, no longer provides those services. All deliveries have now been shifted to Thiruvottiyur, forcing women to travel long distances during emergencies, the report quotes a resident as saying.
Although the government has begun upgrading the Urban Primary Health Centre at Kathivakkam, residents say no tangible benefits have reached them yet.