Save the Turtles - Greenpeace India

Orissa is one of the planet's last places where highly-endangered Olive Ridley Turtles nest en masse. If the Tatas build a port here, the turtles could disappear, taking an entire ecosystem along with them.

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Candles lit for Ratan Tata, thousands ask him to save Orissa’s turtles

May 20, 2008

Dozens of Mumbaikars, Greenpeace volunteers all, tonight lit thousands of candles on the rocks in front of Bakhtawar, Colaba, asking the building’s most famous resident, Mr. Ratan Tata, to shift his company’s upcoming port project...full story»

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Write to Ratan Tata

Name* Email* Subject* Message (editable text)

Dear Mr.Tata,

The Tata name is today omnipresent in India, through a choice of affordable products and has today grown from a national giant into an international financial player.  At the same time, you insist that the TATA group has a firm commitment to environmental justice and sustainable development. I am writing to ask you to demonstrate that the TATA Group does indeed have such a commitment and it does not put profits above environmental and social well being.

I am disappointed with the way Tata Steel has conducted itself on the Dhamra port issue in Orissa. There has for some time been clear proof of the irreversible effects that this huge port will have on the highly-endangered endangered Olive Ridley turtles. What is even more distressing to me is that you had clearly promised to abandon the port if evidence of turtle presence was ever unearthed, yet this promise is now not being kept. Not just that, despite the simple fact that ports can be shifted while turtle nesting grounds can not, Tata Steel continues to build the Dhamra port.

I have been a follower of the Tata story and role you are looking to play in shaping modern India. Surely a decision to protect the Dhamra area and shift your port to an alternative environmentally-benign site will be more in keeping with the image that the Tatas project, and the legacy left by men such as JRD Tata, than the current position you have adopted?

I earnestly urge you to look at alternative locations for the Dhamra port. Such a decision will raise the Tata standing in my eyes and, I am sure, in the eyes of millions of Indians, not to mention an increasing global audience.

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