K’taka HC instructs govt to find if Honnavar port expansion will harm turtle nesting grounds

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on instructed the State government on Tuesday to carry out a survey to find out whether the Honnavar port expansion project in Uttara Kannada district is harming any of the turtle nesting grounds present there.

The division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka gave the orders while responding to a PIL by the Honnavara Taluk Hasimeenu Vyaparasthara Sangha.

The court added that the survey be conducted by the Chennai-based National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM).

The port expansion works involve the development of a barge/vessel loading facility on 44 hectares of coastal land and was granted environmental clearance in 2012.

The court also ordered the Deputy Commissioner of the district to visit the project site and check if the expansion work has undergone any unapproved change as alleged in the PIL.