CHENNAI: Political parties should come out with clear-cut strategies to cope with environmental problems such as air/water pollution, coastal erosion, sand mining and groundwater depletion, according to a manifesto for the Assembly polls released here on Friday by the Tamil Nadu Environmental Council.

Listing out the environmental abuses the State has been facing in the past decade, the manifesto demands that deforestation and sand mining in river catchments be halted, encroachments on water bodies removed, issue of permission for new industrial units in drought-prone districts be stopped, licences for industrial units that extract groundwater be cancelled and reclamation of water bodies for urbanisation be ended.

It calls for an impetus to organic farming and erecting bio-shields to stop coastal erosion. "A copy will be sent to all parties and their co-operation sought in stopping environmental crimes. The aim is to sensitise them to environmental problems," said council convenor L. Antonysamy.

The manifesto also calls for stopping efforts to repatriate fishermen away from the coastline in the name of development, strengthening the Coastal Regulation Zone rules, drawing up a CRZ map of vulnerable areas and shutting down all shrimp farms along the coast.

Handbook released

The council also released an Environmental Activists' Handbook in Tamil. It contains information on international conventions and legislation on environmental protection.

M.S. Janarthanam, former judge of the Madras High Court, handed over the first copy to Albert Muthumalai, principal, Loyola College.