The Coastal Aquaculture Authority is a ‘fraud’ on the Supreme Court Judgement of 1996 that banned shrimp industry along coasts and is equally a ‘fraud on the public”, ruled Justice Hosbet Suresh, former judge, Bombay High Court, at a people’s hearing on the impact of shrimp industry on coastal lands and livelihoods.
The Jury will move the Supreme Court to implement its 1996 judgment banning shrimp industry with the report of the hearing soon, said Justice Suresh, head of the Jury, at the hearing organised by Coastal Action Network (CAN) here on Friday.
The ruling based on day-long depositions by people from the districts of Ramanathapuram, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Pudukottai, and Kancheepuram on the impact of shrimp farms, upheld the demand for a “complete ban on shrimp farms along the coasts.”
The depositions by 18 people and four organisations recorded telling accounts of groundwater salination and depletion, contamination of community commons due to discharge from shrimp farms, drinking water scarcity, and depletion of grazing lands.
Stark among the depositions were those of women. “We barely make Rs.500, and then pay Rs.15 for a pot of drinking water, for a family of five,” said Radhika of Pudukottai. “Earlier, we could get water by digging the ground for just a foot. Today, we get water at 940 feet,” said Nagavalli also of Pudukottai.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines, Justice Suresh said: “The Centre notified that the CAA was constituted in ‘pursuant to the SC judgement as regulatory authority.’ But, that is total lie, as the SC ordered a ban and not regulation.”
The district committee of the CAA for farm licensing does not include the water resources division of the PWD that is responsible for water maps and testing water quality, said Ossie Fernandez of CAN. The lone official deposition of Assistant Director of Fisheries for Aquaculture (in-charge) for the four delta districts was also made.
