Mundra:
The Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone, an infrastructure project owned by one of India biggest corporate houses - the Adani group, has been slapped with a showcause notice by the environment ministry for serious violations of the Coastal Regulation Zone notification.
The Jairam Ramesh - led environment ministry issued the notice based on the complaint of a local NGO asking the Adani group as to why the clearance for the project should not be cancelled.
The Mundra Port is said to be India's answer to Rotterdam. However the question is at what cost? A year and a half ago, NDTV had exposed how hundreds of mangroves had been hacked and destroyed. Today the scenario is perhaps grimmer, with many more mangroves simply disappearing.
"First they block the creek by building a bund, then they dump dredged sand on the mangroves and claim the land," says Bharat Patel, complainant and environmentalist.
Over the next five years, the Adanis plan to invest over a billion dollars in this strategically located port but with Jairam Ramesh coming down heavily on Posco, Vedanta and Lavasa, the Adanis could very soon feel the heat.