Coastal Accumulation in Tamil Nadu Senthil Babu Seven years after the 2004 tsunami, with the coastal communities in Tamil Nadu yet to reconcile with its after-effects, another disaster is gradually unfolding. A massive relief and rehabilitation campaign, largely driven by private aid with the state playing a mere regulatory role, has opened up the coast for investment, making it a most attractive zone for a new kind of disaster capitalism with ultra mega industrial projects of ports, thermal power plants and petrochemical industries. An investment-led growth regime is descending on the 1,076 kilometre- long coastline spread over 13 districts of the state. In the district of Cuddalore alone, along the 30 kilometre-long coast from Cuddalore Old Town to Parangipettai, roughly about 8,000 acres of land have been acquired since 2006 for an oil refinery, three thermal power plants, one shipbuilding yard, a textile processing unit with a common effluent treatment facility, and three captive ports. The combined investment in these projects will be about Rs crore. South of Cuddalore, in the Sirkali,
