Ennore

Ennore, also spelt , is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India. Ennore is situated on a peninsula and is bounded by the Korttalaiyar River, Ennore Creek and the Bay of Bengal. The creek separates south Ennore from the north Ennore which covers major portions of North Chennai Thermal Power Station and Ennore Port. The neighbourhood is served by Ennore railway station. Over the years Ennore has become the hub of a range of industrial projects, mainly thermal power stations, fertilizer factories, industrial ports and coal yards.

Ennore, also spelt , is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India. Ennore is situated on a peninsula and is bounded by the Korttalaiyar River, Ennore Creek and the Bay of Bengal. The creek separates south Ennore from the north Ennore which covers major portions of North Chennai Thermal Power Station and Ennore Port. The neighbourhood is served by Ennore railway station. Over the years Ennore has become the hub of a range of industrial projects, mainly thermal power stations, fertilizer factories, industrial ports and coal yards.

History

The neighbourhood is part of the Avadi–Ambattur–Sembium–Tiruvottriyur–Ennore "auto belt" in the city's industrial north and west regions that developed when the automobile industry developed in Madras, in the early post-World War II years. Ennore was one of the "five 'new villages' " that were annexed with the then new British town of Madras in 1708.

Administration

Administratively Ennore is divided into South and North regions. The mostly residential south region is governed by Greater Chennai Corporation as ward 1 in zone 1. The south region is a part of Kathivakkam revenue village in Tiruvottiyur taluk of Chennai district. The completely industrialized north region is governed by Athipattu village panchayat in Minjur revenue block. The north region is administered by Ennore revenue village in Athipattu Town Panchayat of Ponneri taluk of Tiruvallur district. The north region is completely occupied by North Chennai Thermal Power Station and Ennore Port.

Ennore Creek

Ennore Creek is a backwater located in Tiruvallur district, Tamil Nadu. The Ennore Creek is bound on the north by the Pulicat Lake and to the south by the Manali marshlands. The Arani River enters the creek's northern edge below Lake Pulicat. To the south, Kosasthalaiyar River and the surplus course of the Puzhal Lake enter the creek. The estuary at Mugatwarakuppam drains all of these waters into the Bay of Bengal. Six revenue villages, namely Kathivakkam, Ennore, Puzhudhivakkam, Athipattu Pudunagar, Kattupalli and Kalanji are located around the Creek.

Threats and issues

Despite being protected under such regulations, the unplanned industrial development of this area over the last few decades have had devastating effects on the whole ecosystem, resulting in loss of ecology and livelihoods of the fishing communities. The creek is encroached by industries in several locations, which led to a reduction of the water covered area. Already 1090 acres of the total 8000 acres of the Creek are encroached. Of the area that is still water covered the depth of the water is reduced by fly ash from the North Chennai Thermal Power Station. In some areas the ash has reduced the depth of the creek from 14 feet below sea level to 2 to 4 feet. This reduces the creek's ability to carry water, which is crucial, especially in times of flooding.

Industries and developmental projects

Over the years Ennore has become the hub of a range of industrial projects, mainly thermal power stations, fertilizer factories, industrial ports and coal yards. Many of them let their untreated wastewater flow into the Ennore Creek; others amount to the air pollution in Ennore. The Ennore Creek is surrounded by multiple industrial projects namely- North North Chennai Thermal Power Station (NCTPS) 3×210 MW; 2x 600 MW Kamaraj Port Limited (KPL; formerly known as Ennore Port) L&T Ship Building Yard West Chettinad International Coal Terminal NTECL's Vallur Thermal Power Station 3×500 MW HPCL – Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited South Ennore Thermal Power Plant (Oldest operational power plant in the region) 2 x 60 MW; 3 x 110 MW Coromandel Fertilizer Kothari Fertilizer Ashok Leyland Hinduja Foundries EID Parry Within a 5 km radius: Manali Industrial Area Madras Fertilizers Limited New proposals for thermal power projects in the region include: 800 MW NCTPS Stage III, on the green belt of the current NCTPS, Ennore 1600 MW Ennore SEZ, on the ash pond of NCTPS 1200 MW North Chennai Power Company, at Katupalli 1030 MW Chennai Power Generation Ltd, Katupalli and Kalanji village

Oil spill

The 2017 Ennore oil spill was an oil spill that occurred outside the Kamarajar Port in Ernavoor, Tamil Nadu, India, on 28 January 2017. The spill occurred when the outbound empty LPG tanker M. T. BW Maple collided with the inbound fully loaded oil tanker M.T. Dawn Kanchipuram around 04:00 local time. In total around 196 tonnes of bunker fuel oil spilled into the sea. The coastline from Ennore southwards until Pondicherry (a stretch of 180 km) was in different severity affected by the spill, with the shore of Ennore most severely hit. There were reports of dead fish and dead olive ridley turtle along the coast on different beaches in Chennai and around. The impact of the spill has directly affected the local fishing community as there was a sharp fall in fish sale due to the existing notion amongst public that fishes are contaminated with oil and not fit to consume. Workers had to clean the oil on the shore without adequate protection which lead to skin irritation, throat irritation and breathing problems.

Schools

Ennore has got good number of Government schools. Government High School, Kathivakkam Elementary School. The Leading Private schools are Sri SSM Group of Schools, Parthasarathy Matriculation School, St. Joseph Matriculation School, V.O.C. Matriculation School, Child park school and Annamalai Matriculation Schools.

Transportation

Metropolitan Transport Corporation runs passenger buses to Ennore from other major parts of Chennai city. Route number 4, 4M (Minjur-Ennore- Broadway),56F is available frequently from Broadway Bus Terminus (Parrys), 56, 56A from Vallalar Nagar (Mint), 159E, 121C from CMBT, 1C, 1D from Thiruvanmiyur, 28B from Egmore Railway Station. 4C from Chennai central, 157E from redhills.

Films and music

Ennore has been featured in many of the Tamil and other language movies. The climax fight in the popular Tamil movie "Kaaka Kaaka" was filmed in a place called Sandbar in Ennore. Some scenes from the 2023 film Maaveeran were also canned here. Environmental activist Nityanand Jayaraman produced the ‘Chennai Poromboke Paadal’, featuring T.M. Krishna, as part of a campaign to raise awareness about the encroachment on Chennai's Ennore Creek.

References

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374410287 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.