The southern bench of the National Green Tribunal has directed the Chief Secretary to the Tamil Nadu government to furnish a plan of action within a week for removing invasive mussels from Ennore – Pulicat wetlands.
During the hearing of a petition filed by Kumaresan Sooluran, a resident of Ennore, regarding the spread of invasive mussels in the Kosasthalaiyar river, the Additional Advocate General (AAG) submitted that the Chief Secretary had recently chaired a meeting on the issue, following a prior direction from the bench.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary inquired with officials from the Fisheries Department, Water Resources Department, and the Tamil Nadu State Wetland Authority whether any scientific study on the complete removal of the invasive mussels had been conducted. The officials responded that no such study had been carried out.
As a result, the Chief Secretary directed the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), the National Institute of Ocean Technology, and the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture to undertake the study.
Upon learning this, Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati expressed surprise, noting that the Dr. M.G.R. Fisheries College and Research Institute in Ponneri had already conducted relevant studies, which had been submitted to the Fisheries Department.
This included consultations of CMFRI too, they said and questioned why the Chief Secretary had not been informed of these existing studies. Mr. Korlapati suggested that recent bureaucratic changes might have contributed to this oversight.
The bench then advised the AAG that a new study was unnecessary and instructed the Chief Secretary to submit a detailed action plan within a week. The matter has been posted for hearing on September 6.