Press release - June 19, 2007
MUMBAI, India — Challenging TATAs insurance slogan “Take a new look at life” four turtles appeared at the Mumbai Office of TATA AIG Life Insurance, asking for insurance cover to protect them from Tata’s proposed port at Dhamra in Orissa. The turtles unfurled a banner outside the TATA AIG office which read, ‘TATA, Take A Turtle-friendly Look at Life!’
Representatives of Orissa’s turtles, seeking insurance from the destruction to be caused by Tata’s Dhamra Port, hang a banner outside the office of Tata AIG Life Insurance in Mumbai.
"We are here seeking insurance cover on behalf of the 500,000
turtles that congregate along the coast of Orissa every year. We
want the Tatas to insure us against the risk of the Dhamra Port
destroying our feeding and mating grounds. The Tata port poses an
immediate danger to the very survival of our species as it
threatens our most important habitat on the entire planet", said
Turtle Spokesperson Sachin Gupta.
Tata Steel's proposed port is less than 15 km. from the world's
largest mass nesting site at Gahirmatha, where up to 500,000
turtles have been known to nest in a single year. Tata's has always
maintained that turtles are not found near the port site, and if
evidence of their presence was recorded, they would reconsider the
port. In March 2007, a study conducted by renowned herpetologist
and member of the IUCN's Amphibian Specialist Group Dr. S.K. Dutta
unequivocally established the presence of turtles in the offshore
waters near the port. (1) The study also recorded other rare
species on the port site itself, which have been ignored in the
Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) done for the project. (2)
Greenpeace has been in touch with the Tatas since the release of
the report but the points raised by the study have yet to be
addressed. Tata Steel has continued to claim publicly that the
port will not impact turtles, though they have not been able to
provide any evidence for this statement. Further, the company has
chosen to ignore specific scientific concerns raised by Greenpeace,
through the Critique of the Dhamra EIA report as well as the
findings of the biodiversity assessment which Greenpeace had
commissioned.
"The TATAs have said that if there is scientific evidence that
the port will harm the turtles, they will withdraw from the port
project. The March 2007 study puts the issue beyond doubt. We now
call upon Ratan Tata to walk the talk and act with the integrity
that JRD Tata and the other legends of the family would be proud
of. Tata's must act now to save the turtles, by withdrawing from
the port project", said Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner with
Greenpeace India.
For further information, contact
Ashish Fernandes, Oceans Campaigner +91 99801 99380,
Saumya Tripathy, Greenpeace Communications +91 93438 62212 
Notes to Editor
(1) The biodiversity assessment conducted by Dr. S.K. Dutta recorded the presence of over 2,000 turtle carcasses on the port site, probably victims on mechanized fishing in the waters off the port site. Other significant findings include a large population of horseshoe crabs and rare frog and snake species that are the the first confirmed records from mainland India. The complete report is available at www.greenpeace.org/india/press/reports
(2) The Dhamra Port EIA has been scientifically critiqued by Greenpeace scientists from the School of Biosciences, Exeter University and has been found to be fundamentally flawed. This critique is available at www.greenpeace.org/india/press/reports