Urbanization of a Protected Wetland

2014

A Case Study of the Pallikaranai Marsh, India

A Bachelor thesis by Bram Popkema Supervisor: Maarten Bavinck 14-8-2014

Bram Popkema, Human Geography, University of Amsterdam

Bachelor’s Thesis, submitted on 14-8-2014

Abstract

Urbanization of a Protected Wetland: A Case Study of the Pallikaranai Marsh, India

The aim of this study is to investigate how urbanization and the accompanying waste problem of South-Chennai affects the Pallikaranai Marshland in a physical manner, looking at changes of the marsh and its surroundings through a planological point of view, without going deep into the ecological perspective. The data for this study were collected through a six weeks preparation of literature study, and an empirical part which consisted of four weeks of extensive observations and interviews with important stakeholders. This methodology will be further explained in the first stage of the thesis, together with a theoretical framework and contextual information. The second part illustrates the conducted observations and recent changes of the marsh. Finally, the influence of the waste problem, future plans of the government and Indian politics will be elaborated. On the basis of this research, it can be concluded that the area of the marshland is reduced significantly in the last couple of decades, and it currently suffers from serious contamination by the dump yard. The allocation of a large part of the marshland to the Forest Department in 2007 has protected its size in recent years, and future plans of the government are looking good for the conservation and even the improvement of the marsh. It is, however, questionable when and if these measures will be taken, and in which matter corruption or other priorities are playing a role.

Preface and acknowledgements Developing countries generally know a high rate of urbanization. This thesis highlights the situation of urbanization and the accompanying problems in the Indian city Chennai. This work will be done as a thesis assignment for me as bachelor student Future Planet Studies and Human Geography at the University of Amsterdam. The project would be about coastal governance or a topic which relates to it. During six weeks before departure to the field, the 17 students of us organized ourselves in 4 different groups who all had another topic. Our group consists of four people and we brought our focus to the Pallikaranai marsh, with each of us another approach. In the six weeks we took preparations for the fieldwork we would do in Chennai, and followed a lecture series about India in general. The first two of six weeks in India we got lectures about ecosystem governance and services in coastal areas. Then we started the four weeks of fieldwork at the Pallikaranai marsh and surroundings. Back in The Netherlands we transformed all this information to this thesis.

I would like give some acknowledgements to a couple of people. Firstly my two supervisors Maarten Bavinck, and in the beginning Jaap Rothuizen, for all the enthusiastic and energetic support and knowledge they had put in helping me with this project. Secondly I would like to thank the three students of my group: Rita Seijelmass, Peter van der Hem and Yorick Vink. Although we all had another research, the collaboration with these students helped me a lot with the research. Thirdly and most important I would like to thank Karthick Radhakrishnan, assistant of the Associate Professor Madras Institute of Development Studies. He helped us from the start as a guide to explore and explain the area. During the entire fieldwork he was a very helpful contact and information point who helped us getting in touch with people we would never get to by ourselves. In this thesis I will refer to him as my guide.

Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 2

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3

INTRODUCTION 6

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 6

RESEARCH METHOD 7

CONTEXT 9

GROWTH OF THE CITY 9 GOVERNMENT STRUCTURE 9 GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES RELEVANT TO THE PALLIKARANAI MARSH 9

CURRENT SITUATION OF THE PALLIKARANAI MARSH 10

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PALLIKARANAI MARSH 10 LOCATION 10 DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA 10 BIODIVERSITY 11 DESCRIBING SURROUNDING AREAS 11 CURRENT OBSERVATION AND FINDINGS OF URBANIZATION IN THE AREA 12 NORTH OF THE 200FT ROAD 12 WEST OF PALLIKARANAI MARSH 13 EAST OF PALLIKARANAI MARSH 14 CHANGES OF THE AREA IN THE RECENT HISTORY (2000-2014) 15

FUTURE SITUATION OF THE PALLIKARANAI MARSH 17

WASTE DUMPING, POLLUTING AND THE PERUNGUDI DUMP YARD 17 SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT 17 PERUNGUDI DUMP YARD 18 FUTURE PLANS OF THE GOVERNMENT 20 PROTECTION AGAINST ENCROACHMENT 20 PLANS OF THE GOVERNMENT 21 MOVEMENT OF THE DUMP YARD 22 ROLE OF INDIAN POLITICS 22 HIERARCHY 23 CONFIDENCE 23

COMMUNICATION 23 BACKROOM POLITICS 24

CONCLUSION 24

DISCUSSION 25

LITERATURE 26

APPENDIX 28

Introduction information that will be helpful to understand the case and its situation. The main findings The Pallikaranai Marsh is a wetland situated will be discussed by some general information, 20 kilometre south of the centre of Chennai, historical changes, current observations, the India. It is one of the last surviving natural Perungudi dumpsite and his problems, future wetlands of the south of India (The Hindu, plans concerning the marshland and a last 2011). This freshwater swamp has a high part about Indian government style. The thesis biodiversity of both plants as animals, and is will end with the conclusion and a discussion. therefore assigned as a protected area by the government of Chennai. This was necessary to Theoretical framework retain the marshland because its size decimated in the last 50 years (Chennai City To get a clearer view of what we mean by Connect & Care Earth, N.D.). This is mainly urbanization I would like to quote a simplified due to the growth of the city and the definition of Vlahov and Galea (2002): accompanying urbanization. This urbanization “Urbanization is the process that involves the leads to problems for the marshland in terms emerge in growth (or decrease in size) of of encroachment and pollution. The first cities”. This development mostly goes problem is an ongoing situation of together with the growth of population of the encroachment of the marsh since the growing city due to migration towards the city. It is city reached the edges of the marshland. The also possible that towns nearby get added to second problem mainly began to start with the city because they get swallowed by its the arrival of a city dump yard 25 years ago. borders. Urbanization has not always to do Over the years and even now the dump yard with population numbers. Constructing areas got bigger and bigger, and contamination of for a business park, infrastructure or the marshland got worse and worse. These governmental buildings also count as two problems will be researched in this paper urbanization. trying to get an answer to the research question: A result of this urbanization is often the creation of segregation and the accompanying How does urbanization and the accompanying formation of the so called slums and gated waste problem affect the Pallikaranai Marsh communities. Blandy and Lister (2006) define in a physical manner, looking at changes of a gated community as followed: “Gated the marsh and its surroundings through a Communities have an explicit boundary, planological point of view, without going deep access by non-residents is restricted, the into the ecological perspective? development is usually managed by the residents, and there are legal constraints on To give further explanation of the terms used residents' behaviour and use of their in the research question, this introduction will properties”. The most important reason for be followed by a theoretical framework. After the existence of these gated communities is that, there will follow the research method to the feeling of these people that they need a explain how the research is designed. Here safe and secured environment for them and will be told which methods will be used, how their surroundings. A slum can be defined as information will be gathered and processed, “a heavily populated urban area characterised and what problems the research could by substandard housing and squalor” (UN- encounter. Next will be given some context habitat, 2007). It is a quite simple and physical

description of the housing form, but it mostly wetland, however, there is a waste problem, refers to lower quality or informal housing. which is mainly caused by the Perungudi There are various other names that could also dumpsite. This dumpsite of 200 hectares big describe these areas, just as one slum can contains toxic waste which flows into the differ a lot from another slum. In some slums marshland and damages and decreases its the houses are built as simple as possible, and biodiversity (Jawaharlal Nehru Technological sometimes they are made of a good University, 2008). foundation and seem to be in good shape, but what most of them have in common are a lack Research method in electricity, water and sanitation. This research was done by a case study of the area Pallikaranai. The information was When writing about how urbanization affects gathered by several different methods. Before the wetland, we mean in what matter does the fieldwork there has been done a lot of the urbanization lead to a decrease of the reading about the area and the situation. marshland in qualitative and quantitative Literature has been read about physical manner. The quantitative aspect focusses on change of the area, about the Pallikaranai the size of the wetland, and whether this Marsh as an ecosystem, about the Perungudi decreases, stays protected, or even grows. dump yard, about the government structure The qualitative aspect is one which focusses and about rules and plans of the government on the environmental issues of the marshland, concerning the whole situation. In this way I such as biodiversity. When writing about the was informed enough about the situation and effects urbanization and the waste problem environment I would enter. has on the wetland and the importance of the conservation of it, one should know the true To get a clear view how the area looks like I meaning of a wetland and its ecological, have done extensive observations in and economical en sociological value. According to around the Pallikaranai Marsh. By driving and the Ramsar Convention, an intergovernmental walking through the area I saw the recent treaty that provides the framework for developments in the wetland. During this national action and international cooperation observation I looked who are present in the for the conservation and wise use of wetlands area, and what kind of building sites are and their resources, wetlands are “areas of present. By making a map of this I got an marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether organized map about how the current natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, situation of the area looks like. I brought a GPS with water that is static or flowing, fresh, with me which noted down the exact locations brackish or salt, including areas of marine I went to. The first part of mapping the area water the depth of which at low tide does not was done by driving and walking as close to exceed six metres” (Wetlands International, the marsh as possible to see what the exact 2014). These wetlands are a valuable borders of the marsh were. This measurement ecosystem because it prevents us from floods is done by setting the GPS in making a marking and coastal erosion, contains a lot of point every 10 meters. This ensured I got a biodiversity, and also brings great socio- very accurate result. The second part of economic benefit with its constant water mapping has been done by making waypoints supply, fisheries, fuel wood and recreation of important landmarks. These accounted for possibilities (The Environmental Education anything notable for the research. It included Centre of India, 2014). In the Pallikaranai cases like construction sites, recent

development, undeveloped surfaces or this helped me understanding their way of differences in wealth between the living, there were still situations which were neighbourhoods. Another use of taking difficult for me or the other to deal with. I had waypoints was to see where the residential to adapt myself to the situation and parts are, where commercial or business areas understand that I will not be seen as one of are, where institutional areas are and where them. This gave me a different position as other purposes of land use are present. All researcher. Although I had the possibility to these results have been stored in the GPS and use a translator, the language seemed to be a were elaborated with the program GIS when I barrier during the interviews. Most of them got back in The Netherlands. The map that could speak adequate English, but their usage came out was compared with ones of the year of it was quite different than how we speak it 2008 (Chennai City Connect & Care Earth, in The Netherlands. This sometimes resulted N.D.). In this way, one could see recent in vague and not understandable answers, changes of urbanization of the Pallikaranai which were difficult for me to interpret. The Marsh. second problem was making appointments with these people. When seeing them they When the observations were done I took are very direct and helpful, but when you try interviews with the local inhabitants, nature to make an appointment there usually came protectors, and representatives of the no reaction at all, or you were redirected to government about their plans. In this way I someone else. This slowed down the research researched the situation from different angles considerably, and because of this I did not had of view. I interviewed them about the topics the chance to talk to all the people I wanted urbanization, ecology and the Perungudi to. A third problem was the hierarchical dump yard. By comparing the different structure of the government. It was not perspectives and visions they have, I clarified possible for me to talk to anyone after I spoke whether these plans conflict with each other to the mayor. They seem to be afraid of telling or not. This also gave a better insight of the different stories to me than the mayor’s. This situation the marshland is in. led to a gap in information I needed for my research. The last problem was to really get to After this is done I also did a policy study to the exact borders of the marshland. Some look at what kind of plans the Chennai areas where not able to reach because of government had concerning the Pallikaranai walls or other physical restrictions. Some rules area according to the books. This made the had to be broken to get access to some areas, situation more clear and brought different so this made the measuring of the area practical thoughts of the governors to the sometimes very hard. light. A last thing I did is literature study about the Perungudi dump yard and its effect on the After collecting the fieldwork information in Pallikaranai Marsh. these four weeks I brought it all together in The Netherlands. In de weeks that followed all During this research I had to take into account the information is analysed, and written down that I would be in a total different culture than in this thesis. in The Netherlands. This lead to some cultural clashes. To prevent these I joined a lecture series at the University of Amsterdam to gain knowledge about the Indian society. However

Context because it covers metropolitan planning and the coordination of project implementation. When looking at the Pallikaranai marsh, it This means they are the ones who make policy does not look like it lies in an urban area, but concerning land use and urbanization. due to the enormous growth of Chennai in the last decades it is now fully surrounded by urban development. Therefore, one could say it practically lies in the city at this very moment.

Growth of the city The growth of Chennai is the main reason of the urbanization of the Pallikaranai marsh. The city expands it borders more and more, which resulted in the inclusion of Pallikaranai in the municipal authority. In figure 1 you can see the growth of the city for the last 40 years. One could see the marshland is now completely surrounded by urban development.

The metropolitan area of Chennai has grown from 3.5 million inhabitants in 1971 to 8.8 million inhabitants in 2011 (CMDA Chennai, 2008). The projection of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CDMA) Figure 1: Map of the growth of Chennai (CDMA Chennai, 2008). is that this population will keep rising to 12.5 million in the year 2026. The last three Government authorities relevant to the decades this is mainly due to the migration of Pallikaranai Marsh around 1 million Indians per decade to the The Pallikaranai marsh is not governed by a city. The average density of the city will rise single governing body altogether. Since April from 27 persons per acre in 2001 to 67 2007 a large part of the marshland is brought persons per acre in 2026. under the jurisdiction of the Forest

Department (The Hindu, 2007). This is a Government structure government body with the purpose of The city has one overlapping governing body: protecting wilderness, the ecological diversity Chennai Corporation. This is the overarching and species richness (Tamil Nadu Forest institute for making policy with Saidai Department, 2007). The practical meaning of Duraisamy from the party AIADMK as its this shift is that the protected part of the mayor. The local government furthers exists of marshland now is under their supervision, and three more sub-bodies which fall under the it will be impossible for anyone to build in the Corporation: Municipalities, Town Panchayats marsh without their approval. The area above and Village Panchayats. Besides this local 200ft Road belongs to the Chennai government are the parasternal agencies. The Corporation, and around the ECR Link Road it CDMA is the most notable for this research, mostly belongs to private actors. It is because

of their commercial interests likely to assume southern part of the marsh. A last reason why that these private areas will get urbanized. I will deal with a bigger scope of the area is because the borders of the area also varies Current situation of the Pallikaranai Marsh per agency who are involved in the area. This will be further explained later. General information about the Pallikaranai marsh Location The Pallikaranai wetland is a marshland located 20 kilometres from the south of Chennai, a south-east Indian city in the state Tamil Nadu. It lies between the railway station Velachery and a big crossroad named 200ft Road in the north, the residential neighbourhood Pallikaranai in the west, the ECR Link Road and a technology centre in the south, and a mix of IT-companies and residents in the east. It is 3 kilometres offshore and is currently around 80 square kilometres big. It is connected with the Buckingham Canal in the east through a water stream which flows out of the marshland on the south-east. This Buckingham canal runs through whole Chennai parallel to The Bay of Bengal. In this way the Pallikaranai marsh is connected with the ocean. The official edges of the area are determined and protected by the forest department. These edges are shown at figure 2, marked with the orange line. However, in this paper I will often talk about the Pallikaranai Marsh as a bigger area. This is mainly because there might be an official border of the area, but there are hardly any physical borders between the official and non- official parts of the area. The part south of the Figure 2, Map of Pallikaranai Marsh (Google Maps, ECR Link Road for instance is not a part of the 2014). official Pallikaranai marsh, but it looks practically the same. This also counts partly Description of the area for the area north of the 200ft Road. I will discuss this topic later, but before this road Looking at the map it appears that the came, the north and south were unseparated Pallikaranai wetland is completely enclosed by from each other. Besides that, the Perungudi urban structures. On one hand this is true, the dump yard is also located in this northern area is entirely surrounded by buildings or part, and has substantial influence on the roads, but on the other hand this area is also

connected to other green areas. It is Describing surrounding areas connected to the Buckingham Canal in the This urban development consists roughly of southeast, which, in turn is connected to the three separate neighbourhoods, a train Bay of Bengal, and in the north and west it is station, and the ECR Link Road in the south. connected to several water tanks through The west side of the Pallikaranai marsh is a relatively small water streams. These tanks residential neighbourhood which is also provide the wetland of fresh water from the named Pallikaranai. This district is deeply surroundings. Combined with rainwater in the penetrated in the marshland and is located wetland they are providing the area of a almost entirely on the original marshland. sufficient water level. During rainfall season According to a global consultancy report, the water level in the areas is much higher housing prices in this area will rise with 93% than in dry periods. This frequently leads to between 2012 and 2017, and it is India’s 11th flooding of surrounded urban areas largest investment destinations in residential (University of Freiburg, N.D.). All these tanks real estate (The Economic Times, 2012). and the marsh itself constitute a flood plain in Although this area seems booming looking at rainy seasons. This will ensure a better these figures, according to my guide almost 70 catchment of rainwater in the rainy season, percent of the houses on the east side of the which leads to a lower risk of floods in the district have no residents actually living in surrounding urban area. Therefore, these their houses due to heavy contamination and tanks and the marsh are of great importance pollution (personal communication, 10-April- for southern Chennai. 2014). On the south side the Pallikaranai marshland is bordered by the ECR Link Road Biodiversity and the IT-Park Elcot-Sez, a special economic Another great value of the area is the richness zone of the government. South of this road is and diversity of plant and animal species an area which looks quite the same as the which are available in this marsh. The NGO official Pallikaranai marsh. It used to be Care Earth, that works towards ecological together, but because of this road it got split conservation of the Pallikaranai marsh and up. At the east of the marsh lies the so called other ecological sites in Chennai, identified “IT expressway” Thoraipakkam, a strongly 337 different animal species present in the residential and commercial hub for the marsh (Vencatesan, 2007). The majority of suburbs in the south of Chennai. Because of species are birds (115), plants (114) and fishes the Old Mahabalipuram Road this (46), but it is also the habitat of butterflies, neighbourhood is very well connected to the reptiles, crustaceans, molluscs, amphibians city centre and the airport, which makes it an and mammals. Among these species are a few interesting location for IT-companies. This rare ones, such as the grey-headed lapwing, a area also had pollution problems due to the lot of exotic floating vegetation, such as water dump yard, but these strongly decreased since hyacinth, and characteristic species such as the burning of waste was banned (Toxic the Russell’s viper and the water buffalo. Watch Alliance, 2008). In the north-east side Although the area is protected by the Forest of the marsh lies the neighbourhood Department, all of these species are Perungudi, which has the same name as the threatened by heavy pollution caused by the dumpsite lying in the marsh. Just like Perungudi dumpsite and ongoing urban Thoraipakkam, Perungudi lies in the IT- development in the area. corridor and therefore also has a strategic location for residential and commercial

settlements. Despite big IT companies At the south-east side of this area lies the Perungudi has poor infrastructure and lacks a small sub-neighbourhood Saravana Nagar, proper waste drainage system. In the north- which is a part of the bigger Perungudi. It lies west side of the marshland lies the Velachery between the 200ft road, OMR Road and the railway station and more to the west the Corporation Road. The last one is the road Velachery main road. which leads to the Perungudi dump yard west of this sub-neighbourhood. This area is The area north of the 200ft Road is formally relatively poor and there is little activity on not assigned as a protected wetland, but as a the streets. There are only residential wasteland. In this area we find the Perungudi buildings which are all different from each dump yard. All the waste from southern other: a sign that most of it will be built by the Chennai is collected here, and is left here people itself instead of a bigger housing mostly without treatment. The dump yard is in project from the government. The houses look operation for 25 years, is now 200 acres big quite new but poorly maintained. At the edge and the government plans to shut it down in of the neighbourhood stands a big wall which 2015 (Chennai Corporation, 2014). According separates the urban area from the marshland. to the government the amount of processed It is notable that this area is not fully crammed garbage is 2200-2400MT per day. More about with houses, as can be seen in picture 1, but the dump yard and waste disposal system of there is still undeveloped land remaining. Chennai will follow in further chapters. From the west side one can see the extension of the Corporation Road which leads into the Current observation and findings of dump yard (picture 2). Standing in front of the urbanization in the area entrance of the corporation road there are To get a clearer view of urbanization of the many trucks entering and leaving the dump Pallikaranai marsh and the surrounding area, yard. It is strictly forbidden to enter the dump there should be, next to literature study, also yard, so it was not possible for me to enter it. be done extensive fieldwork in the area itself. When driving some around the entrance it This is done by observation in the complete was possible to enter the area with the area within the circular ring road surrounding sewage treatment plant and the edges of the the marsh. This means the entire area within dump yard. It was probably forbidden to go the OMR Road, MGR Main Road, Velachery there, but it was badly shielded as you can see Main Road and the ECR Main road. I divided in picture 3. Piles of garbage of over three this area into three parts, based on their meters high are visible here, just with green physical location, which will be elaborated one and natural water bodies next to it. There after the other. The first area contains the even walked a family of boars who live from part above the 200ft Road with the dump yard the garbage. One can also see the water tanks and railway station, the second part will cover of the sewage treatment plant which were full the neighbourhood Pallikaranai and the rest of of waste and dirty water. the west side of the area, and the third part will cover the neighbourhood Thoraipakkam When driving further to the north I reached and the remaining east side of the area. The Telephone Nagar, also a part of Perungudi. pictures mentioned will be represented in the This is a more wealthy area and one can see it appendix. is all newly build. The roads are new and well maintained, and there is also some high-rise. North of the 200ft Road There are even some gated communities

present (picture 4). These are building big building on the east. This is the National complexes with a wall around with only one Institute of Ocean Technology, and has an entrance which will be manned by a security interesting history of settlement which will be guard to prevent unwelcome people. There is discussed in the next chapter. When passing a small separation between the urban area this institute into the big neighbourhood and the marsh consisting of a fence. At the Pallikaranai the first thing that is really striking north of this small neighbourhood lies a water is the mix of poor low rise settlement, and tank named Perungudi Lake. When leaving newly build high rise buildings. A second Telephone Nagar to the north we enter a interesting thing is that although this area is significantly poorer district what can be called now highly dense, you can still see remaining a “slum”: Anjugam Ammaiyar Nagar. Driving parts of the marshland in between of the through this neighbourhood can give one a buildings (picture 7). In the north of the less safe feeling. The people living here do not district, next to the institute, are found mostly seem to approve my presence. Their houses poor residential buildings. This area could also are built of wood, bad concrete and be identified as a slum. The roads are very corrugated roofs. The roads are not paved and bad, the houses are built of wood or four there is garbage everywhere. Most interesting simple walls of bad concrete, and there is of this area is probably the huge stone wall waste everywhere. The most northern part of which separates these people from the this area of this neighbourhood seems very marshland and the train station in the north poor. When reaching the edge of the area in (picture 5). the north-east, we see a lot of undeveloped plots all the way along the transition area Driving further to the west I pass by the between the developed area and the Perungudi Train Station and the Velachery marshland. All of these plots seem to be Train Station. The track between these owned by private actors, which is visible stations borders the marshland. Both of these through demarcation of builders and poles station are secured and protected from (picture 8). There are a lot of plots still “unwelcome” guests. It is only possible to undeveloped, but you can see it will not take drive through the north side of the track. This too long before these will also be developed, area is currently under development, but you because most of the plots just before these can see remaining parts of the former are currently under construction. The official Pallikaranai marshland (picture 6). South of borders between the neighbourhood the Velachery Train Station is an area which is Pallkaranai and the Pallikaranai Marsh are used for train repairing and housing for indicated by concrete structures which stand workers of the train station. When riding all the way along the marshland (picture 9), south at Velachery Main Road to the second and there are no walls or fences between part of the observation, we only pass the them, which is the case in the northern part of Centre for Wind Energy Technology; a the marsh. More about these plots and research and development institute on borders will be discussed in following renewable energy of the government, chapters. ironically build in the middle of the marsh. When driving further to the south following West of Pallikaranai Marsh the edges of the urban area, the poor and Passing the 200ft road while driving through expensive houses become more mixed. The the Velachery Road there immediately rises a cheap houses we found in the north are also

present over here, but here and there are technology, and everything looked more some big new apartments rising from the western. The big building at the end of the ground. Big apartment blocks (picture 10) are park can be seen everywhere in the alternated with very poor housing blocks Pallikaranai marsh (picture 15), and is (picture 11). There are even some sort of villas therefore a good example for the contrast (picture 12) and a kind of gated communities between the nature and urban development (picture 13) built at the border of the in this area. Another example is picture 16, marshland. This whole area seems deserted where you can see water buffalos walking and desolate. This is mainly due to the through the shallow water underneath a vacancy of the houses as has been said in an bridge and water/gas tubes, with a building earlier chapter. Together with all the under construction in the background. To construction sites and garbage along the road, drive further to the north you will have to the area does not seem to be attractive to live follow the OMR Road, the road which is a very in nowadays, despite of the beautiful view of crowded It-Expressway which connects the the marshland. south of Chennai with the centre of the city. For Chennai’s standards, it is a very well The area south of the official neighbourhood maintained road. It is quite new, and the Pallikaranai is a more new and wealthier one. people I spoke to on this road said the All of the buildings in this area are newly built renovation of this road was very welcome or still under construction. Over here I because it strongly improved the flow of the probably found the best example of a gated traffic. This road is the lifeline of community: Isha’s Signature Villas, an Thoraipakkam, where many businesses is expensive apartment complex with a big gate concentrated along this road. This counts for guarded by two men (picture 14). On the the big and expansive IT-buildings, and also other side of the road is the complete for the small retail business and widespread opposite of this developed luxury Chai stalls. environment. Here we see a wonderful pond with birds and trees around it, but again there At the west side of this road, the side of the are poor houses and clouds of smoke Pallikaranai Marsh, are the poorer housing surrounding the natural landscape. districts. This neighbourhood lies just behind the small stroke of high class hotels and East of Pallikaranai Marsh company buildings next to the road. These From the neighbourhood Pallikaranai we drive neighbourhoods are hidden from the people the ECR Link Road to Thoraipakkam in the who travel on this road, and there are no good east. At the north side of this road lies the roads entering it. The roads that are available marsh, and at the south also lies a marshland, for a car are again poorly maintained and but this one is not officially named Pallikaranai rarely paved. Most of the houses are built of marsh anymore. At this road we find first a big concrete and actually look quite good. This power plant and next to it is the ECLOT SEZ, a however, varies strongly per house. The big IT-Park. The main part of this park is not feeling in this neighbourhood is, in contrast to accessible for outsiders, but some parts were the northern area, actually pretty good. There accessible. In this park was a totally different is a lot of street activity, the people look kind of atmosphere than in all the other parts I happy, and they seem to like my presence. have been to. All the people were well This neighbourhood can therefore not be dressed, the buildings were new and of high

qualified as a slum, while the area next to the Changes of the area in the recent history train station in the north probably can. (2000-2014) During the observations, every location I went All these areas, at the north of the 200ft Road, was marked by a GPS. In this way I could do an the west and the east of the marshland, are accurate identification of the outer borders of characterized by two types of contrasts: the the marsh. These borders are shown in figure contrast of nature and development, and the 3, where the red line maps the current contrast between poor and rich. The contrast borders between urban and non-urban areas. between the nature and the urban The borders of the marsh in an orange line, development is visible in the whole area. High- and the type of settlement in 2008, are shown rise is visible from every part of the marsh, in figure 4. Areas on which is already been and even in the marsh itself are future plans built or which currently are under of development visible. Maybe the best construction, are defined as urban. Natural example is the 200ft Road which cuts straight areas or areas which are planned to be built through the marsh. The other contrast is one up but still are not under construction, are between the poor and rich development, defined as non-urban areas. When comparing where the residences are mostly poor and this map of the current borders with the map office areas are mostly rich. This contrast is with the borders in 2008, one could notice a mostly seen in the district of Thoraipakkam, few changes over the last six years. The where poor people standing at chai shops look historical view of Google Earth is used to see up to the well-dressed IT-businessman physical changes of the landscape since 2000. working in enormous glass buildings. But not only here, also in the other neighbourhoods around the marsh, and actually in whole Chennai, there is a strong mix and contrast between poor and rich people, between poor housing and luxury buildings, and this just seems to be how the environment looks like in a southern Indian megacity.

Figure 4: Borders and types of settlement in the Figure 3: Borders of the marsh in 2014 according to Pallikaranai region (Chennai City Connect & Care Earth, own observations. N.D.).

The part northern of 200ft. Road, the area Although the area on the southwest side of which is not protected by the forest the Pallikaranai Marsh is under protection of Department, has changed a lot over the last the Forest Department, satellite images of 14 years. Google Earth historical view shows Google Earth and my own observations show that the Perungudi dump yard, which lies in that big parts of this area are currently under the middle of this area, grew significantly over construction, or already used for residential this period. It stretches over almost the entire purposes. The images on Google Earth are length of the marsh, and also grows in the showing almost no buildings at all in this area width by almost reaching 200ft. Road. The in 2006, but the images of 2014 are revealing outer borders of this area seem to be several construction sites and buildings. This is unchanged. This area is not protected by the consistent with my observations in the area. Forest Department, but it is protected against encroachment with a big wall all around the The residential neighbourhood Pallikaranai in marsh. This also counts for big parts of the the west expanded considerably over the last east side of the Pallikaranai Marsh below decade. The images of Google Earth show that 200ft. Road. This IT-corridor did not grow the urban area did grew further and further to substantially to the west side because it the east in this period. Especially the southern already lies against to the borders of the part of this residential area experienced a protected wetland. rapid growth. However, according to these images and my observations, the official The south-eastern area did change a lot in borders of the protected marshland are not recent years. Figures 5 and 6 show a big exceeded. difference of this area between the satellite pictures taken by Google Earth in 2006 and All concluding, it seems that the protected 2014 (Google Earth, 2006 & 2014). As one area of the Pallikaranai Marsh by the Forest could see, the entire area which is not under Department, did not get affected by the protection of the Forest Department, is urbanization for the most part in recent years. now fully built over. These are the yellow The south-western part does know several parts in the map of 2008. The light green parts construction sites. The borders of the part in this map are settlements of the IT- north of 200ft. Road are not changed either, companies. They were partly under but the dump yard grew significantly and took construction in 2008, but now in 2014 the more and more space. construction is completed and the companies are in full operation.

Figure 5: Satellite image of south-east Pallikaranai in Figure 6: Satellite image of south-east Pallikaranai in 2006 (Google Earth, 2006) 2014 (Google Earth, 2014).

Future situation of the Pallikaranai Marsh to reduce environmental effects caused by the former street bin collection system. 95% of the households are covered under this system Waste dumping, polluting and the Perungudi where 2800 tricycles go down the doorsteps dump yard to collect the garbage. After picking up this Solid waste management garbage, they will take it to transfer stations The growth of Chennai both by population from where it will be transported to the numbers as by welfare, has led to a new major dumpsites through lorries. The result of this problem of the city: waste. Due to the growth system is the reduction from 14000 to 1300 of the city, the collection of solid waste grew bins in 2004. The government itself speaks from 600 to 3500 tons per day in the last 20 about the tricycle as a wonderful tool and a years (Solid Waste Landfill Management, great system which seems to work, so the 2007). Now in 2014 the government of Indian governments rule about door to door Chennai states that the current collection of collection seems to be respected. But this waste has an amount of 4500 tons per day, of system also has its disadvantages. Thousands which 2200-2400 tons are for the Perungudi of people are dependent on street waste. dump site (Chennai Corporation, 2014). 68% These waste pickers form their own informal Percent of this garbage consists of residential economy which is from great importance of waste, 16% commercial waste, 14% the city. This economy ensures a lot of institutional waste and 2% industrial waste. separation of garbage and recycling, Most of the solid waste collection is organized something that also reduces the city’s carbon and executed by the corporation of Chennai, footprint. However, the importance of this but around one third of the collection is done economy is not recognized by the by private actors in collaboration with the government, and these people are being government of Chennai. The system they use displaced and their work is taken (Transparent has to follow several rules issued by the Chennai, 2014). government of India (Solid Waste Landfill Management, 2007): A rule which is not being followed is the daily sweeping of the street. According to the ▪ Source segregation and storage at source previously mentioned Solid Waste Landfill ▪ Door to door collection Management, the main reason for this ▪ Abolition of open storage sweeping are shortage of sanitary workers, ▪ Daily sweeping of the street public holidays and lack of financial support. ▪ Transportation of waste in covered vehicles The city also tries to work on source ▪ Waste processing by composting or energy segregation and introduced a program in recovery January 2004 concerning waste segregation, ▪ Disposal of inerts by sanitary landfilling recycling and composting. Because this program has its basis at the houses and the This work is done by around 10000 worker of people themselves, they also initiated an the government, and another 2000 of the awareness program among the people. The private actors. The government has a slightly effect and size of this initiative is however different way of collecting the garbage, but questionable. When talking to the people in most of it is the same. It starts at the residents the area around the Pallikaranai Marsh, hardly place. In June 2003 the government anyone knew something about the plans going introduced the door to door collection system on concerning the waste. They just follow the

rules and procedures of the people picking up substantially. This growth, combined with their garbage. In an interview with the pollution, causes big threats for the councillor of Thoraipakkam (personal biodiversity and nature conservation. communication, 6-May-2014) he says this is mainly because a lot of government policies Environmental effects need a degree of privacy, and therefore the It seems that the dumpsite affects both people will only know about the plans when quality as the quantity of the marshland. things will actually change. This will only Firstly, the 200 acres the dump yard covers is happen when the planners receive a green lost for any kind of nature. And secondly, and light from higher institutions. probably the most important one, is the area surrounding the dump yard is that heavily The implementation of waste processing by contaminated, that in most of this area soil composting is going well according to the degradation and strong loss of biodiversity Solid Waste Landfill Management. Most of the took place. An assessment of the department organic material can now be thrown in of civil engineering found that the area around composting units at 106 places in the city. This the dump yard is subjected to many system also results in less transportation costs environmental changes due to leakage from and environmental issues. The Chennai the waste in recent years (Jawaharlal Nehru Corporation also has plans for recovering Technological University, 2008). This leads to energy from the waste, but these plans are contamination of the ground and still in their development phase and have yet groundwater, and also to a different chemical to be implemented. composition of the soil. Especially the amount of sulphate and chloride was increased due to Altogether it looks like the Chennai the dump yard, and the future predictions of Corporation really does its best to get a well- this university are that this will worsen if organized and environmental friendly waste nothing will be done about the leakage. An disposal system. However, it seems to be very important consequence of this change is the difficult to fulfil all the requirements of the deterioration of the soil, which leads to a national government. This is caused by issues limitation of the vegetation that will grow in like the rapid growth of the city, not enough the marsh. The part northern of the marsh financial space and a lack of skilled personal at should be planned as an area of a beautiful the waste management. green park in the future, but according to the head of Care Earth Trust, an NGO which tries Perungudi Dump yard to project the marsh, this area is so heavily The previous discussed waste disposal system contaminated that it is impossible to grow all ends at two major dump yards: Kodungaiyur kinds of plants over there (Deccan Chronicle, and Perungudi. We will focus on the 2013). The head of the organization, Jayshree Perungudi dumpsite, because this lies in the Vencatesan, also states in this article that it is middle of the Pallikaranai Marsh. Everyday not possible to revive the entire wetland to its 2200 to 2400MT garbage is brought here by core. According to her some parts are big lorries (Chennai Corporation, 2014). The recoverable, but most parts are too damaged area covers an area of 200 acres, and lies in by the garbage and the water flow has the centre of the northern part of the marsh completely been choked by plastics. In 2009, a above the 200ft Road. It is used for over 25 report appointed to a panel by the higher years now, but during this period it has grown court of Madras even stated: “Alteration of

natural water courses by unregulated it worse. It is however, not very clear how dumping in the marshland has led to these fires started. In October 2008 the calamitous flooding in the area” (The Times of Chennai Corporation said it would stop India, 2011). burning garbage at the dump yard (Toxic Watch, 2008). They will do it somewhere else This degradation of soil is not the only ground on a safer place, they appointed security problem. According to the director of Centre personal to prevent (illegal) dumping and for Climate Change and Adaptation Research there would be water tanks spread over the Dr. Ramachandran, the marshland would dump yard which could be used in case of normally act as “a bowl for carbon fires. Commissioner of the Chennai sequestration” (Deccan Chronicle, 2013). A Corporation D. Karthickeyan blames the fires result of the current dumping is that this on miscreant who enter the dump yard for carbon filling does not take place: aquatic burning their waste or getting scrap metal out plants cannot grow in a polluted environment, of it (New Indian Express, 2012). According to and therefore their sedimentation will stop. some residents in Thoraipakkam these fires The area is now even emitting dangerous occur regularly. When the wind blows in their methane gas, which is bad for the direction it causes a thick smoke, difficulty environment, can be dangerous for the health breathing and irritated eyes (The Hindu, of the people living in surrounding houses and 2014). These fires are not the only reason for can cause fires. health problems among the people living around the Pallikaranai Marsh. Residents in Fires and health consequences these areas complain about the menace of These fires occur frequently in the marsh and houseflies for four months of the year, which the dump yard. The Hindu (2011) and The is so bad that they cannot even open the Times (2011) of India reported a large fire in windows to get air. It is, however, the 21 march 2011 . There were fires seen from question to what extent people actually over 5 meters high and it ravaged for over 4 would like open their windows with all the hours. All the nesting birds were killed and pollution. On the other hand, not every house plant life reduces to ashes. A scientist from has windows, so not everybody has a choice. Care Earth states in the report of The Times This is another major problem for these (2011) that further research to the origin of people. They complain again about breathing these fires is necessary to prevent more fires. problems, itching eyes and rashes (The Hindu, He even says it is evident that the methane 2014). The water is also deeply contaminated gas in the marsh has led to these fires or made and sometimes has a red colour. The plants wilt in it, and it is definitely not drinkable. A resident of Thoraipakkam says it is so bad, that he has to spend 200 Rupees a day on purchasing water for drinking, cooking and washing (Toxic Watch, 2008). Besides this expenditure for water, he also spends 2000 Rupees a month on medical expenses for his family.

It seems that the Perungudi dumpsite is a very Figure 7: A big fire at the dump site in 2014 (The Hindu, 2014). unwelcome presence in the Pallikaranai

Marsh. However, due to the fast growing resulted in a far better protection of the area, population and economy of Chennai it may be but it is questionable if they did anything necessary evil. The growing amount of trash about the contamination of the area, and has to go somewhere, and it cannot stay on some urbanization of the protected area is still the streets. The quality of the marsh seems to going on. There are a few rules concerning the suffer heavily under this dump yard, but the area protected by the Forest department last couple of years the Chennai corporation everybody is obligated to stick to. did not do a lot about it. The protests of activists, scientists and above all the residents Protection against encroachment are getting bigger and bigger, and it is the It is forbidden for anyone to enter the part of question how this will influence the future of the marsh that is protected by the Forest the presence of the Perungudi dumpsite and Department. Only members of this the quality of the Pallikaranai Marsh. department are allowed to enter here. Since not everywhere are physical borders, it is Future plans of the government possible for everybody to enter, but when you The previous discussed waste problem and get caught you will have to pay a big fine. The the earlier discussed ongoing growth of the only way to enter it legally is when you got city causes the Chennai Corporation huge permission from the Forest Department, challenges. It is not easy to come up with a which I got. In an interview with the Chief simple solution because these two problems Conservator of Forests Mr. Lakshmi Narayan, could get in each other’s way. When the city he told me the department has several decides to protect all the nature there won’t security people patrolling the area and be enough space for the growing population, keeping an eye on people who would enter it and when the city decides to invest only in (personal communication, 8-May-2014). urban development, this could threaten the There are also some control houses located in nature. It can be difficult to get the right the marsh, mostly unmanned. Narayan says balance between conserving nature and the the security is not optimal yet, but they are sometimes unavoidable urbanisation. This working on a plan to make it better. certainly counts for developing countries, where there is always a shortage of money It is also strictly forbidden for anyone to build and where corruption is not uncommon. This in the area which is protected by the Forest corruption is a great deal in India. Stats show Department. The Chief Urban Planner Chennai that India is ranked 16th in a list of world’s Corporation Dr. S. Rajasekarapandian tells in most corrupt countries (Nationmaster, 2009), an interview that this is a big crime, and when and in 2012 there even came an anti- somebody tries to build something on this corruption party (BBC, 2014). Because of this area they would get arrested and thrown in corruption, probably part due to big prison immediately (personal communication, companies, the government of Chennai stands 1-May-2014). Besides, he says, because of the under great pressure for fulfilling their mostly strict regulation it is impossible for anyone to commercial needs. Nevertheless, it seems to build in this area. Nevertheless there is a very be willing to protect their green areas, and little “slum” on the west side of Pallikaranai there comes more and more awareness of the marsh which is located in the protected area. importance of these areas. This resulted in the The people of these houses are fighting in allocation of a part of the Pallikaranai Marsh court for several years to maintain their to the Forest Department in April 2007. This location, but during this time they can still stay

in their home. There are a few exceptions on the land use map of the Pallikaranai Marsh the rule of no-encroachment in the and its surroundings according to the wishes marshland. These exceptions are only of the master plan in 2026. A few aspects are reserved for matters of national interest, different than nowadays or otherwise worth according to the Chief Urban Planner. This rule of notice. The first aspect is setting of the of exception could be widely interpretable. A southern boundaries of the marshland. This case where it is used is the case of the map shows us only the area which is National Institute of Ocean Technology. This protected by the Forest department and the building of over 20.000 acres is built in the part above the 200ft Road according to the centre of the marsh. Chief Urban Planner. This is inconsistent with the borders that my guide told me. He said the Plans of the government whole area above the ECR Link Road belongs In 2008 the Chennai Corporation came up to the protected area. The Chief Urban with the Second Masterplan for Chennai Planner says the planned road on the south is Metropolitan Area, 2026 (CMDA Chennai, almost the official border of the protected 2008). In this plan they composed their vision, area. This road should connect Medavakkam strategies and action plans concerning future with Thoraipakkam. It will be built as some development in Chennai. The region of the kind of bridge which stands on pillars so it Pallikaranai Marsh is also included in this plan does not cut the marshland. A second aspect and was elaborated in combination with the which got the attention was the ring around interview I had with the Chief Urban Planning the neighbourhood Pallikaranai which in the Dr. S. Rajasekarapandian in the next map is classified as agricultural. This means it paragraph. will not be urbanised. The Chief Urban Planner does not say anything about this area as The map in figure 8 (CMDA, 2008) shows us agricultural, but says it is all owned by private

Figure 8: Map of proposed land use in 2026 (CMDA, 2008) 21

actors. He thinks it will be developed by them the continuous postponement of the because of the growing urban pressure. He governmental plans. The fact that it has been also thinks this will not go that fast because of postponed for almost two years already says a the location is not very attractive for settlers lot. Another reason is the physical problems of due to the bad infrastructure and therefore moving the entire dumpsite and cleaning it all bad accessibility of this ring. This bad up according to my guide. He says the infrastructure is also the reason why the area amount of garbage is too big to just move it in will not know any high-rise in the future. such short time, as well as it will never be According to the law a building may only possible to clean the entire area from its exceed the height of 6 meter if the road next toxics, not to mention in such short period. to it is 15 meters or wider. The third aspect is that the present marshland remains intact The future of the Pallikaranai Marsh depends according to the map. This means they on the thoroughness of the current plans and assume the rules set by the Forest the understanding of the importance of an Department will work. ecosystem like this. It looks like the allocation of a big part of the marsh to the Forest Movement of the dump yard Department was a big step in conserving the The fourth and last aspect that should be area. Strict rules were taken and mostly covered is the northern part of the marshland. respected. The chance that this area will be This area includes the Perungudi Dump Yard. further urbanized looks very small. The The map says this area will be partly northern part is a different story. The conserved area just like the rest of the marsh, government has big plans about removing the and partly institutional area. This means the dumpsite, but this is already postponed for institutional area will probably developed and two years. The is very likely that the dump the rest should be nature. Officials of the yard will move one day, but it is the question Chennai Corporation said in October 2012 that if the higher authorities will be decisive the Perungudi dumpsite will be closed in 18 enough to take action in short time. External months and that the waste will we brought to pressures from residents, activists and 4 new dumpsites out of the city at the scientists will probably speed up this process. beginning of 2014 (Times of India, 2012). This It is, however, the question in which matter means the dump yard would have already the marsh will return to a fully clean been gone by now. But at this very moment ecosystem that is not contaminated anymore the dump yard is still fully operating and by the dump site. getting even bigger. In an interview I had with the mayor of Chennai, Saidai Duraisamy, he Role of Indian Politics said exactly the same to us (personal In previous chapters we discussed the communication, 6-May-2014). The plans were organization of the government in Chennai all done, and the movement of the dump yard and the Pallikaranai Marsh. This contained out of the city would take place when the primarily the structure of it, but not the way elections were finished (April-May), and it how it works in practical manner. Indian would take 18 months. The dump yard will governing in its organization of spatial then be fully gone, cleaned and covered. The management seems quite similar of that we plan is to build a large park on top of it for know in The Netherlands, but the way it works recreational purposes. It is, however, very practically differs a lot. This could have a lot of hard to have faith in this project because of consequences for the way they make and

execute policy concerning urbanization and they would not have any time, and they all the marshland. There are four main topics were very helpful because the mayor asked that were striking while interviewing six them. different people, who are listed in the appendix. These topics consist of hierarchy, Confidence confidence in itself and others, All the municipal officers I spoke to had a lot communication and backroom politics. of confidence in themselves and in the others. They are very sure their plans will succeed, Hierarchy and when a critical question is asked they During the research this seemed to be a very react as if there is no other possibility than important matter in Indian society. This their own plan will succeed. None of them applies for daily business, working places and thought the dumpsite would stay there, none not the last in the government. The most of them thought there could be any important person in Chennai is the ruling urbanization of the marshland and all were party AIADMK and its mayor. He rules the city very confident of their own success. It seemed and can barely be contradicted by his that they all stuck to the official line of the subordinates. This means he gets very little party. They also did not interfere with the resistance and everybody follows his lead. This business of someone else. They only want to came clearly to light when I first had an talk about their own organization or activities, interview with the councillor and later with and they act like they have nothing to do with the mayor. After the interview with the mayor other actors. Not even about their own I had to ask the councillor another few predecessors. According to the Chief questions and made an appointment with him Conservator of Forests they do not say through his assistant. When I arrived to talk to anything about them because they respect him, he thought I would just come there to their past commitment and privacy. thank him for the interview. But when I said I wanted to talk to him a little bit more about Communication the marshland, he immediately refused to say A possible consequence of this way of working anything more about it because I already is a poor transmission of information. The spoke to the mayor. He said that the mayor Chief Conservator of Forests said that the knew everything the best, and he could not current policymakers don’t get any tell me anything extra. He seems to be afraid information from their predecessors. When of telling something different than the mayor, the present policymakers do not get any which would make him look having another information from them about earlier periods, vision then the mayor. The sensitivity of the they cannot learn anything from the situation topic could also have played a role in the or the policymakers back then. The same interviews we had. It is possible that the happens between the different institutions. mayor and the councillor where cautious in The mayor wants the dump yard to move to the answers they gave me, making sure their another place outside Chennai, just like the answers would not be used negatively in the councillor who has to follow the lead of the media or in other ways. This mayor looks very mayor. But the Chief conservator of Forest is powerful and he has a broad network. During against it because he thinks this is only moving the interview he knew every chief of the the problem. All of these people work for the departments and called them for us to speak government, but it seems that some sub- with them. None of them refused because divisions have different visions concerning the

marsh, whereas it is more efficient if all these research the presence and scale of these actors would cooperate. problems we raised he following research question: Backroom Politics Like in other developing countries there is a How does urbanization and the accompanying lot of corruption we discussed in earlier waste problem affect the Pallikaranai Marsh chapters. Policymakers receive bribes from in a physical manner, looking at changes of companies and therefore adapt their policy. the marsh and its surroundings through a This corruption does not happen in public, but planological point of view, without going deep all in secret. The same happens, legally, in into the ecological perspective? mutual agreements. These go in silence and they try to keep in under the table. This leads To research the way of urbanization one to a low level of transparency of the should first look at the present urban government towards the public. environment in the area. It seems that the entire surroundings of the marshland are A very important conclusion one could take is completely packed with urban development. that hierarchy is a very important factor in The kind of development differs substantially, making policy. There is a top-down approach from a modern research centre in the south, which everybody has to follow. This means the to slums in the north, and from an IT-highway extent of urbanization and protection of the is the east, to a regular resident Pallikaranai Marsh is very dependent on neighbourhood in the west. This development politics and the vision of the leaders of the is characterized by two types of contrasts: the Chennai Corporation. The current ones seem contrast of nature and development, and the to understand the importance of this area, but contrast between poor and rich. All these due to external pressure and ongoing things go hand in hand. Luxurious gated postponement it is the question if they will act communities are located right next to the like it. Backroom politics and maybe even slums, and little swamps and other natural bribes could slow their plans down. The habitat is present in the middle of the new confidence the different actors have in urban areas. themselves and each other could lead to direct decision making, but better Since the Forest Department took over a big communication among the institutions could part of the marsh, the reduction of the size of lead to better cooperation and better the marshland nearly stopped. Due to strict agreements, which everybody is satisfied with. regulation and heavy penalties the urbanization of the marshland was brought to Conclusion a stop. After this change of jurisdiction in 2007 there only occurred encroachment of the In the introduction of this thesis we pointed marshland for developments of national out the rapid growth of Chennai and the effect interest, like the National Institute of Ocean it has on the Pallikaranai Marsh. Two Technology. Despite this change, there are still problems were defined: the ongoing situation some illegal settlements in the area where of encroachment of the marsh since the long lawsuits are running against. The current growing city reached the edges of the urban area will probably get more densified marshland, and the arrival of the Perungudi due to the growing pressure of growth of the dump yard which would pollute the marsh. To city, but it seems that the rules of the Forest

Department will retain most of the current playing a role. All concluding it will really territory. depend on the external pressure and fortitude of the government whether the urbanization The Perungudi dump yard is one of the other and the accompanying waste problem will forms of encroachment in the Pallikaranai affect the Pallikaranai Marsh in the future. marsh. The growth of Chennai and its accompanying growth of waste is the main Discussion problem for the ever growing dump yard. The quality of the marsh and the health of the This research gives a broad and mainly descriptive view on the urbanization of the surrounding citizens suffers heavily under the dump yard. It seemed that protests of wetland. Therefore it probably cannot be used activists, scientist and residents had no impact by policy makers in the Pallikaranai region. It does give a clear view on the situation and on the government. However, the last couple of years it seems that the government is future predictions of the marshland and the starting to recognize and understand the dumpsite, and could therefore be useful for anyone who is interested in this situation. This contamination problem. They now have big plans to remove the dump yard out of the city could be local residents, people working in the and clean and reshape the area to a park. field of urbanization or waste problems, or could be used in a multiple case study where it Whether this will happen in short time depends on the decisiveness of the can be compared with similar cases. government and the degree of external Future research could be done by several pressure they will be under. disciplines. An ecologist could dig deeper in The allocation of a large part of the marshland the degree and composition of the contamination due to the Perungudi dump to the Forest Department has protected it in recent years, and future plans of the yard. An urban planner could investigate and government are looking good for the estimate what the probable scenarios are concerning the growth of the city, and a city- conservation and even the improvement of planner could do deeper research whether the the marsh. It is, however, questionable when and if these measures will be taken, and in relocation of the dump yard is possible or not. which matter corruption or other priorities are

Literature 80°13’16”O, elevation: 2.85km https://www.google.com/maps/@12.908224, Blandy, S. Lister, D. (2003) Gated 80.2207335,1721m/data=!3m1!1e3 (accessed Communities: (Ne)Gating Community 14 August 2014). Housing Studies, Development? Vol. 20, No. 2, 287-301 March 2005. Institute of physical geography, University of

Freiburg (n.d.) Flood risk in Pallikaranai Chennai City Connect, Care Earth (n.d.) Wetland area, Chennai India Management Plan Conservation of http://www.slideshare.net/edsley/riskmapvie Pallikaranai Marsh. Chennai: Chennai City w (accessed 10 August 14). Connect, Care Earth. Janardhanan, A. (2011) Fire at Pallikaranai ‘City to finally be free of garbage dumps’ marsh sparks calls for handing it over to forest The Times of India (2012) , 30 October 2012. dept. The Times of India, 20 March 2011.

CMDA (2008) Second Master Plan For Chennai Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Metropolitan Area, 2026 . Chennai: Chennai (2008) Assessment of Ground Contamination Metropolitan Development Authority. at Perungudi Municipal Dumping Yard in

Chennai. Kakinada: Dept. of civil Engineering, ) Second Master Plan – Proposed CMDA (2008 Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University. Landuse 2026 http://www.cmdamaps.tn.nic.in/pdflinkcombi Krishnan, P. (2013) Pallikaranai is 2,700 years ne.php?map=CHN591231.map&lat=1430397. old. Deccan Chronical, 27 October 2013. 6775&lon=415432.605625 (accessed 14

August 2014). Lazarus, S. M. (2012) Intruders blamed for Pallikaranai dump fire. The New Indian Solid Waste Corporation of Chennai (n.d.) Express, 12 June 2012. Management http://www.chennaicorporation.gov.in/depart Nation Master (2009) Government corruption ments/solid-waste-management/index.htm rating: Countries Compared (accessed 10 August 14). http://www.nationmaster.com/country- info/stats/Government/Government- Conservation of Wetlands CPREEC (n.d.) . corruption-rating (accessed 10 August 2014). Chennai: C.P.R. Environmental Education Centre ‘Nesting birds feared dead in Pallikaranai marsh fire’ (2011) The Hindu, 21 March 2011. Satellite image of south- Google Earth (2006) east Pallikaranai in 2006, 12°52’31”N, North, A. (2014) India general election: Anti- 80°13’16”O, elevation: 2.85km corruption party making waves. BBC News https://www.google.com/maps/@12.908224, India, 9 April 2014. 80.2207335,1721m/data=!3m1!1e3 (accessed 14-8-2014). Manikandan, K. (2007) Major part of marshland now reserve forest area. The Satellite image of south- Google Earth (2014) Hindu, 21 April 2007. east Pallikaranai in 2014 , 12°52’31”N,

Oppili, P. (2011) Forest Department makes ‘Where garbage poisons air, water and life’ first move to get Pallikaranai marsh declared (2013) The Hindu, 4 February 2013. Ramsar site. The Hindu, 11 August 2011. ‘Yet another fire in Perungudi dump yard’ ‘Map of Pallikaranai Marsh’ (2014) Popkema, (2014) The Hindu, 4 February 2014. B. using ‘Google Maps’ https://www.google.nl/maps/@12.9454158,8 0.2190989,14z (accessed 14 August 2014).

SWLF (2007) Municipal Solid Waste Management in Chennai City, India. Chennai: Sustainable Solid Waste Landfill Management in Asia.

Tamil Nadu Forrest Department (2007) http://www.forests.tn.nic.in/aboutus.html (accessed 10 August 2014).

Toxics Watch Alliance (2008) No more garbage burning at Perungudi, Chennai http://www.toxicswatch.org/2008/10/no- more-garbage-burning-at- perungudi.html?m=0 (accessed 10 August 14).

Transparent Chennai (n.d.) Solid Waste Management. Chennai: Transparent Chennai.

‘Ulwe in Mumbai emerges as top destination for realty investment’ (2012) The Economic Times, 20 November 2012.

Unhabitat (2007) What are slums and why do they exist? Nairobi: Un-Habitat

Vencatesan, J. (2007) Protecting Wetlands, Current Science vol. 93 no. 3: 288-290.

Vlahov, D. Galea, S. (2002) Urbanization, Urbanicity, and Health, Journal of Urban Health, March 2002, Volume 79, 1-12.

Wetlands International (n.d.) What are Wetlands? Wageningen: Wetland International.

Appendix

The six people been interviewed were: • Mayor of Chennai (Saidai Duraisam), 6

May. • The Councillor of Thoraipakkam, 6 May. • The Chief Urban Planner Chennai Corporation (Dr. S. Rajasekarapandian), 1 May.

• Chief Conservator of Forests (Mr. Lakshmi Narayan), 8 May • Head of NGO Care Earth (Jayshree Vencatesan), 2 may. • Assistant of the Associate Professor Madras Institute of Development Studies (Karthick Radhakrishnan), during whole fieldwork.

Pictures taken during observations:

1 3

2 4

5 8

6 9

7 10

11 14

12 15

13 16