Chennai, Nov 17: A total of 3,209.33 sq km of Tamil Nadu’s coast might get submerged if sea level rises by one metre by 2,100, environmentalists and urban planners have warned while quoting a report by Ahmedabad-based Satellite Application Centre (SAC), an unit of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in 2012. Also Read - School Reopening News: This State Has Decided to Resume All Classes Simultaneously | Here's When And How

Speaking at a press conference, an environment advocacy group Coastal Resource Centre’s Pooja Kumar said that it is evident that none of the warnings in the SAC report have been taken seriously by the state and it would prove to be very costly. She said, Tamil Nadu is going at a fast pace with its industrial policy and indiscriminate reclamation of coastal lands. Also Read - BJP Workers Offer 70-kg 'Laddu' at Coimbatore Temple Ahead of PM Modi's 70th Birthday

As per the SAC’s report, for a one metre sea level rise by 2100, 231.54 sq km of State highway, 85.66 km of railway infrastructure, 497.65 sq.km of cropland and 826 sq km of aquifers will be submerged or degraded by tidal action, a The New Indian Express report says. Also Read - Sasikala's Probable Date of Release is Jan 27, 2021: Bangalore Central Prison

Concerns on the same have also been raised by another study carried out by Indo-German Centre for Sustainability of IIT-Madras titled ‘Future Sea Level Rise: Assessment due to SLR by 2050’. The study has been submitted but, has not been published. “This is a crucial piece of document. About 10 lakh people are likely to be displaced in Chennai alone,” the report says.

In a bid to bring the situation under control, the government should take proper measures to ensure that the infrastructure expansion does not happen on hazardous lands.

Ennore, NTECL Vallur, Kamarajar Port, HPCL and BPCL oil terminals, Minjur desalination plant, entire IT corridor and the newly developed areas in Pallikaranai marshlands are in the spotlight of SAC report.