Chennai: Iconic actor Kamal Haasan on Saturday stepped out of the comforts of his home and his twitter handle to visit the highly polluted Ennore area along with well-known environmentalists to highlight the industrial pollution of the creek and the uncontrolled encroachments of Kosathalayar river by the PSUs of the state and Central governments.
It was his first outing on a ‘public cause’ for the activist-star, who has promised to make a ‘major announcement’ on his birthday on November 7 and wanted his fans to ‘be prepared’. Perhaps the eco-trip to Ennore was Kamal's way of launching into the murky political waters in Tamil Nadu — hoping to clean up the system — even as cynical politicians have been challenging him to take the plunge instead of merely finding fault with the system.
Taken aback by the environmental degradation he found at Ennore creek and the Kosathalayar river, Kamal Haasan told reporters he had seen the waters deep and clean in the 1970s, when he had gone there for shooting the bilingual Maro Charitra and director K. Balachander asked him to jump into the river from the railway bridge.
Actor Kamal Haasan with environmentalist Nityanand Jayaram at Ennore during his visit to the estuary on Saturday. (Photo: DC)
Kamal outing impacts public, politicos unimpressed
He could do it then but now he would get stuck in the slush as there is no water, thanks to the effluents and the pollution. Environmentalist Nityanand Jayaram, who accompanied Kamal, showed him the fly ash pond spread over 700 acres of the ecologically vulnerable creek area. After the trek across the creek and seeing the Kosasthalayar river, team moved to Kattupakkam fishing village where the distressed locals, many of them women, narrated to Kamal their woes due to high pollution due to the fly ash dumped by the three power plants in the area. Besides, the huge encroachments by the Kamarajar port had affected their livelihood, not to speak about the permanent damage caused to the river which acted as the storm water drain for north Chennai, explained Nityanand.A couple of the fisher women tried falling at his feet and Kamal quickly stepped back protesting.
Kamal's outing created big media impact and predictable buzz among the public, but his political critics remained unimpressed. Union minister Pon Radhakrishnan said the actor's initiative should be welcomed but then, he must show similar activism with regard to dengue eradication and tour the entire state for that purpose. VCK chief Thol. Thirumavalavan welcomed the Ennore trip while the Thiruvallur district collector Sundaravalli, under whose jurisdiction Ennore falls, said she had already sent a report to the state pollution control board, even before the actor's visit. “I found him to be very receptive, very concerned. He understood the seriousness of the issue very quickly”, Nityanand told DC later.
