Tarapore, who had studied the site in 2002 at the behest of Puducherry’s public work’s department, wrote: “There were proposals to protect the coast... by two trial greyness, to protect this critical reach. I had pointed out that this was a dangerous proposition since the greyness would only transfer the problem further down-drift, where there are heavily populated areas.” Tarapore also wrote that the government must conduct a “morphological” study before manipulating the shoreline.

He was not the first to warn. In 1978, before work on the harbour had begun, CWPRS had carried out a study which suggested a sand bypass system once the harbour was built.

On November 3, 2007, a consultation entitled “Restoration and Protection of Pondicherry-Tamil Nadu coastline, was held in Auroville near Puducherry, where senior government officials from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry as well as hydrologists from IT Chennai, NIOT, CWPRS discussed strategies to save the coastline. “It was unanimously agreed that soft solutions such as beach nourishment using a sand bypass system should be used to control erosion,” says Probir Banerjee, a civil engineer and coordinator of Pondicherry Citizens Action Network (PONDYCAN).

Kudale of CWPRS also believes that groynes are a hard solution and must be built if there are no alternatives. He believes that bypass systems have worked very successfully at Visakhapatnam’s port where there is a similar problem.

At the November 2007 consultation, the Puducherry government officials assured that the sand bypass system would be reactivated. But a few days after the meet, rocks began to be dumped at the Kuruchikuppam area towards the north of Puducherry town—for erecting groynes. This was done without applying for coastal regulation zone (CRZ) clearance.

In January 2008, PONDYCAN along with another NGO, Coastal Action Network, filed a public interest litigation in the Chennai high court, seeking a stop on the construction work. A month later, the court directed that the public works department should get environmental clearances for the project. The department applied for CRZ clearance in February 2008.

According to a Union environment ministry official, the Centre had asked the Puducherry government to stop work on the groynes because it had not applied for CRZ clearance. “A notice was sent to the state public works department asking it to stop all work on the groynes, he said.”

Meanwhile in January this year, the Tamil Nadu government initiated an enquiry on erosion in Kottakuppam block in Villupuram district. The report of the enquiry noted. “All villages in Kottakuppam block and other areas of Vannur Taluk of Villupuram north of Puducherry, are at the risk of sea erosion because sea walls/groynes had blocked the natural transport of sand up and down the coast.” It further added that if construction proceeds further in Puducherry, it would “aggravate the erosion on Tamil Nadu coast especially in the Villupuram district”.

PONDYCAN also petitioned the environment ministry against the Puducherry government’s groyen building spree. In January, Meena Gupta, then secretary at the ministry, wrote a letter to Puducherry’s chief secretary, Rashid Behary, asking him to initiate a dialogue with his counterpart in Tamil Nadu. “It has been brought to our notice that the recent construction of groynes has only shifted the problem north of Puducherry... I would appreciate it if you could ask the concerned authorities in Puducherry to discuss the matter with their counterparts in Tamil Nadu, so that our beaches can be saved,” Gupta wrote.

On May 22, 2008 the issue of CRZ clearance came up before the ministry’s additional expert committee of new construction. The ministry sought details of littoral drift, erosion and alternative measures for shore protection.

Gupta had also instructed that the expert committee must consult the groups opposing the groynes before recommending clearance. “The secretary had clearly noted that PONDYCAN be consulted when members of the expert committee visit the site. But that wasn’t done” says Aurofilio Schiavina, a hydrologist based in Puducherry.

In fact, according to an environment ministry official, the committee had almost decided to give go-ahead to the groynes in its July 31 meeting. One of the members then pointed out that objections against the structures had not been weighed and they had to be studied before considering the application for clearance.