00:00Every morning, these fisherwomen from North Tamil Nadu walk barefoot for about an hour
00:11to reach their fishing spot.
00:13All they carry with them is a bottle of water and a palmyra bag for their catchment.
00:18Even though this has been their routine for decades, Rubhavati says a lot has changed
00:22in this landscape.
00:2525 years ago the river was fine, it's now in such a bad condition and our entire livelihood
00:30is gone.
00:31Rubhavati is referring to the 136-kilometre-long Kosisthalaya River.
00:36It flows through two South Indian states and its river basin spans an area of over 3,700
00:42square kilometres.
00:44Are you finding any fish today?
00:48Whether you do or not, it doesn't matter, we've got to be here.
00:54Water from the river's Pondi reservoir flows through the Thiruvallu district where
00:58the village Senganimedu is present, before discharging into the Bay of Bengal.
01:03These women are known for their unique ability to catch different types of fish and crustaceans
01:08with just their hands.
01:10Jyothi demonstrates how they catch prawns on a daily basis.
01:15When we push the water in this direction, the prawns go down due to the pressure.
01:19Once they've settled, we catch them.
01:22For the past few years, we've been returning empty, we only get a handful, there's no
01:30possibility of getting the same amount anymore.
01:33This place has changed a lot.
01:37This sentiment is shared by many fishing communities here.
01:41Once famous for its rich biodiversity, the Ennore-Manali region has been heavily reclassified
01:46by the Tamil Nadu government to allow for petrochemicals and coal-based industries.
01:50Today, there are more than 90 highly polluting industries here.
01:55The most prominent of them is the state-owned North Chennai Thermal Power Station, which
01:59has been accused of releasing fly ash, a toxic by-product created during the burning of coal,
02:05into the Kozhastalaya river.
02:08Since it's illegal to dump or dispose of fly ash on land or into water bodies in India,
02:14the North Chennai Thermal Power Station is supposed to transport it to the nearest thousand-acre
02:18ash pond.
02:20We reached out to both the state electricity board and the pollution control board to understand
02:24how something this toxic ends up in the river, but they refused to comment on the matter.
02:30So we reached out to writer and researcher Nithyanand Jayaraman, who has extensively
02:34studied this region and investigates and reports on abuses of the environment and human rights.
02:40The fly ash that has been taken from this power plant through pipelines has leaked all
02:44the time and has again destroyed about 1,000 acres of the river.
02:49The backwaters that so many communities depend upon.
02:52Now this entire supply chain of devastation is invisible to the people who are doing this.
03:00The Metro site court ordered that the pipelines be replaced in 1996.
03:05This order has been repeated in 2017 and 2022, but the work has not been completed yet.
03:11As a result, fly ash continues to leak into the river and cause harm to human health and
03:17non-human life forms, crucial to sustaining livelihoods.
03:23Rubhavati demonstrates how the fly ash has destroyed the natural habitat for prawns.
03:29The prawns would just sit on the sand here.
03:33Because of the fly ash, they're unable to get a good grip.
03:36They float away in the water.
03:38We used to get so many prawns, but nowadays even getting one is difficult.
03:44Over time, the fly ash has fundamentally altered this region's natural landscape of wetlands,
03:50agriculture fields, mangroves and salt pans.
03:53To make matters worse, the plant is also accused of releasing heated water used as a coolant
03:58into the river, which negatively affects the aquatic life.
04:03The warmer temperature of the water doesn't suit us.
04:06We feel faint and our vision blurs.
04:08If we can't handle it, no wonder the fish and prawns are dying.
04:14The prawns are dying.
04:23After spending half a day, their palmyra bag turns up almost empty.
04:28To have something to sell at the end of the day, they collect these clams.
04:33This saves us on most days.
04:36They fill their palmyra bags with these clams and make their way back home.
04:40I'll wait for you over on the other shore.
04:48While numerous communities like this are suffering due to the rapid industrialisation,
04:53it's also the people living about 50km away in Chennai.
04:57Some of the consequences they face include experiencing heatwaves more intensely
05:02and rapid depletion of groundwater.
05:04But there's one consequence that makes it to the news every year without fail,
05:09and that's flooding.
05:13We have increased the built-up area and reduced the capacity of the rivers to carry floodwaters.
05:18Ennore has been subject to more than 3,000 acres has been taken over for industrial development.
05:25And the river's ability to store the floodwater and then release it slowly through the small river mouth
05:30has been compromised because you have affected the storage capacity.
05:34Because the river is not what it used to be.
05:38Back in the village, Rubhavati has been breaking these clams for nearly two hours.
05:43Yet, she hasn't been able to make a profit despite the time and effort that goes into it.
05:49I sat down to open these at around 2pm.
05:53I just sold two glasses to someone for 50 rupees a glass,
05:56and I've given that 100 rupees to my mother to go to the store to buy rice.
06:02Meanwhile, Jyothi is preparing dinner with the handful of prawns she managed to catch.
06:07She says they're unable to repay large loans, which ends up taking a toll on their mental health.
06:13Since the interest keeps accumulating, we're unable to repay it on time.
06:19I feel bad that we're not able to make enough to pay back our loans.
06:24These women are probably the last generation to continue this practice of fishing.
06:29So, what happens now?
06:31There are a few activism groups and individuals who have spoken out,
06:35filed cases in court, and worked on educating the public to protect this region.
06:40We took off our masks and gave it to them.
06:43One of them is Nithyanand and his team from the Coastal Resource Centre,
06:47who put together a people's plan for eco-restoration of Ennore wetlands
06:51that focuses on the relationship people share with their environment.
06:55Remediating the wetland will mean that the life of the wetland comes back to it.
07:01And if that happens, there will be money in every household inside
07:05that depends on the river.
07:06Across the globe, communities that closely depend on their environment,
07:10like these prawn catchers, deserve justice.
07:13Going forward, we need to include everybody's voices,
07:16especially those who are marginalized while developing a region.
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