Port O Peace!

Many years ago, I did an extremely dangerous towing from Cochin to Mormugao, Goa. The exuberance of youth allowed us to disregard the risk. Another aspect of this voyage, was my discovery of Karwar.

Karwar, a tiny port, then, in North Karnataka looked beautiful from the sea & the waters off the coast turned azure and crystal clear. The coast, with its green cover, looked breathtakingly lovely.

I visited Karwar, a few times later, and watched as the small port was turned into India's largest Naval Base ( INS Kadamba ), called Sea Bird. Sea Bird houses, India's largest & most sophisticated warships. It also houses a rather rustic looking house, on a hillock, overlooking the sea. Exactly about 150 years ago, Rabindranath Tagore, visited the place and lived at here, for a while.

Tagore is said to have said:

"The sea beach of Karwar is certainly a fit place in which to realize that the beauty of Nature is not a mirage of the imagination, but reflects the joy of the Infinite and thus draws us to lose ourselves in it. Where the universe is expressing itself in the magic of its laws it may not be strange if we miss its infinitude; but where the heart gets into immediate touch with immensity in the beauty of the meanest of things, is any room left for argument"

Karwar, also had some of the friendliest folk, who would offer you a meal after an invite to their simple homes.The place also had some of the most beautiful beaches and while the waters are calm and very swimmable what haunts you are the presence of deadly sea snakes. I have a visceral fear of snakes and this effectively kept me out of the water.The blue waters around Karwar, are also, home to the jelly fish, in vast numbers. The harmless looking jelly fish, can be extremely harmful if they come into contact with your skin.The famous Sherlock Holmes adventure," The Lions Mane" is said to feature the innocent jelly fish as its villain!

The place has its place in history, with the Arabs, the Portugese & English all passing through the port, which the Arabs called Baithkol, or peaceful port or bay.They got it Right, because that is what, Karwar is, a place of peace.

Boom or Bust?

In his presentation of the budget for 2010-11, the FM made a passing reference to the Port Sector and development of new ports. An allocation of about 16000 Crores has been made to fuel this endeavour.( http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100227/jsp/business/story_12157959.jsp )

One of the areas that our arm chair planners are looking at, to set up a new port is at Sagar,just short of where the Ganga ( Hoogly ), eventually melts into the Bay of Bengal.Should this happen, the river Hoogly, would then have three ports on her banks, at Kolkata, Haldia and now Sagar.

Kolkata and Haldia are in deep ( pun intended ) trouble because of the lack of navigable depth, caused due to rapid silting of the river, preventing large ships from sailing up/down the Hoogly. River maintenance is costly and time consuming.

The port at Sagar could preclude, this problem, but are there other issues.........

1. Sagar is an open sea area & would have little or no protection from storms & Tsunamis.
2. What would be the fate of Kolkata & Haldia, considering that crores of rupees ( of tax payers money) has been spent in setting up these ports.
3. Sagar Island is location for the famed Kumbhmela & considered holy by many Hindus.........would this be reconciled in the name of development.
4. What would be the ecological damage of port development, at a new site.

One such ambitious project has drained immense funds but failed to see completion is the 'Sethu Samudram Project', where a shipping channel is being created between Sri Lanka and India. The situation has turned into a political cesspool with a stand off between politicians in Delhi, Tamil Nadu & the BJP, on how a bridge constructed by Lord Ram, could be destroyed......................while many experts cry out in frustration that the project per se is not technically feasible & even if it does go on stream would require huge annual maintenance expenditure.In other words, a collosal waste of scarce national resources!

I hope the Sagar port project does not meet a similar fate, considering the shortsightedness that politicians can display......after all its my money as a tax payer, you see.