There could not be a more diverse congregation. There are the local environment activists, Nergis Irani and Katy Rustom -- women who can recite their legal rights backwards. They were instrumental in having Dahanu -- the only green belt that cushions the toxic hell of south Gujarat's chemical zone and Thane's industrial belt -- notified as ecologically fragile. That is how they want to keep it. There is the international backing. The World Wildlife Fund,UK, has commissioned three studies in the area.

According to Sultana Bashir, their representative, the issue goes far beyond the protection of Dahanu. Their concern is the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), a document prepared by the OECD, which may tempt developing countries to dilute environmental legislation to attract foreign investment -- something they believe is already happening with this project.

Among outside supporters are unions from the two ports in Bombay - MBPT and JNP. Their jobs under threat, they have thrown in their lot with the environmentalists. They may reluctantly admit that their resistance to accept new manning scales and higher productivity, at least at Mumbai port, may have partly created the opportunity for P&O, but their commitment is total. Then there are the villagers. Not legally savvy, but their immediate concern is their land and livelihood. For some the two are not connected. There is a strong lobby of small scale industrialists. For them the Dahanu notificationonly comes in the way of expansion and better business. They have in fact asked environment minister Suresh Prabhu to withdraw the eco-fragile status. This would enable industries to expand beyond the 500 acres currently permitted. Sharpening the divide is culture and class. The environmental activists are more affluent, orchard owners -- most of them of Iranian descent.

There is a whole section of the population that does not belong to either group and are still watching from the sidelines. As has happened with every major project, what will swing in their decision is the compensation paid during the land acquisition. Hard cash, for families that are fragmenting into uneconomical land use pattern, will be hard to resist. The size of this section is what determines how long the acquisition takes and how easy it is.

What any movement needs for sustenance is either the law or numbers on its side. With the strong local lobby pushing for the de-notification of Dahanu as an eco-fragile zone, theenvironmentalists' fear that they may no longer have the law on their side is very real. And what the movement lacks so far is the strong numbers. These will be difficult to come by. Almost 67 per cent of the population comprises Warlis -- tribals who work as daily wage farm labour. They are yet to join the movement. As has happened with every project that has met with opposition, the locals have directed their ire at the company, who have chosen Wadhwan from sites offered by the state government. The state government, itself, responsible for having created the problem by offering a site denied by current laws, remains untargetted.

P&O allowed to survey site

P&O Ports has been allowed to proceed with survey work on the Wadhwan project by the Dahanu Taluka Environmental Protection Authority (DTEPA). The DTEPA is a 15-member committee appointed by the Supreme Court. It will submit a report on the environmental implications of the project.The decision is an important one for P&O Ports. It willfinally allow them to start gathering the information required for more detailed feasibility and environment impact studies.

However, P&O is still to receive an extension of the letter of intent, issued to them in February 1997. While the letter of intent is to remain valid until the agreement for the port is signed, it will have lapsed if P&O fails to conduct the survey or the detailed feasibility report. Since P&O had earlier been restrained by the DTEPA from conducting surveys, the state government had not cancelled the letter of intent. The six month period having lapsed, P&O is now insisting that the letter of intent be extended. In the absence of the extension, the company claimed that there was little point in their trying to argue the merits of the case.

For the environmentalists too, the issue of the letter of intent has become important. Since Dahanu has been declared an ecologically fragile zone thorough a notification issued in 1991, their contention is that the issuance of the letter itselfis illegal.

According to sources, the DTEPA has agreed in principle to allow the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) which is the issuing authority to extend the letter of intent. The MMB is awaiting a written order by the DTEPA to the effect.

The letter of intent is the only document signed between MMB and P&O Ports, and does not constitute any commitment on the latter to actually construct the port.