To evade Central
scrutiny, Karnataka splits and dresses up hydel projects as mini units that
threaten to sever the only surviving link between the north and south Western
Ghats
INDIAN LAWS give the best protection to wilderness, on paper. Under the Forest
Conservation Act (FCA), no forestland can be used for non-forestry purpose,
such as roads, railways, dams or industries, without the State’s permission.
Applications for land diversion are examined by the Forest Advisory Committee
(FAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) and, if the region
harbours wildlife, National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
But if a project
requires less than 5 hectares of forestland, the states have the power to
decide. When it comes to generating hydro-electricity, no clearance is required
under the Environment Protection Act (EPA) if the installed capacity is less
than 25 MW. So in Karnataka, projects are being broken down by all possible
means till the components appear small enough to escape the legal filter.
Nearly two-thirds
of the lush Western Ghats rainforests lie in Karnataka, which hosts 20 percent
of India’s elephant population. The state has an enviable record in
conservation and supports five national parks and 21 sanctuaries. Ironically,
it also suffers possibly the country’s worst man-elephant conflict in Hassan
district. Yet, the state decided to come up with a 200 MW hydel power plant at
the heart of this conflict zone in 2008.
The Gundia power
plant required submergence of 754 hectares of thick evergreen forests and drew
flak from all quarters. Then environment minister Jairam Ramesh famously said
in 2009 that both Karnataka and the country could ill-afford the project. While
the state remained adamant about the mega project, it seemed to have quickly
learnt its lessons.
While envisaging
the Gundia plant, the Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Ltd also allotted
72 mini-hydel projects in the Western Ghats. Of these, 27 lie in the Sakleshpur
region, which is the only link between Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary in the
south and Kudremukh National Park in the north and a hotbed of man-elephant
conflict. So far, the Forest Department has cleared six out of these 27
projects.
To avoid scrutiny
by the FAC and NBWL at the Centre, the land requirement of each project was
kept below 5 hectares and the capacity below 25 MW. But what appear to be mini
individual projects on paper are, in fact, parts of bigger projects on the
ground. Moreover, to dress up these broken down projects as ‘mini’ — as details
of two projects in Kagneri and Kanchanakumari reserved forests show — land
required for paving access roads through forests was not factored into the
proposals.
The result is
potential devastation of the forest landscape with clusters of so-called mini
projects coming up nearly in every valley of the Western Ghats in the state.
Biodiversity loss apart, such proliferation will ruin the water systems of the
rainforests. The elephants of Hassan, already squeezed for space, will be
pushed further into conflict with people.
The High
Court-appointed Karnataka Elephant Task Force (KETF) cautioned the court
against the mini-hydel projects, saying: “From all available evidence, the
location of these projects is at critical points of elephant movement, thereby
if constructed, they will significantly reduce the quality of elephant
habitat.”
THE STAKE
Spread across six states, from Gujarat to Kerala along the western coast, the
rainforests nestle 39 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and over 300 globally
endangered species. The 1.6 lakh sq km of the Western Ghats covers around 5
percent of India’s land area but hosts one-fourth of its biodiversity,
including at least 1,500 plant, 116 fish, 97 reptile, 94 amphibian, 37
butterfly, 19 bird and 14 mammal species that are not found anywhere else on
earth. One of the four watersheds of India, the rainforests are the source of
rivers such as Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery and Mandovi.
Once secure in the
care of native tribal communities, the lush forests were lopped for timber, tea
and coffee plantations since the middle of the 19th century. Ravaged for more
than 100 years, a few surviving stretches of this fragmented wilderness have
been secured under wildlife and forest laws since the 1970s. But nearly 90
percent of its unprotected territory continues to bear the brunt of
development.
Last year, the
Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) designated the entire 160-km forest
stretch as an ecologically sensitive area and recommended a three-tier
protection mechanism for its different regions. The government sat on the
report for nine months and refused to accept it when it was finally made
public.
Karnataka has been
sceptical about heightened protection of the middle range of the Western Ghats
that runs through the state. It has opposed the UNESCO tag to 10 wildlife areas
in the state, arguing that it would restrict developmental activities in the
coastal districts. Despite objections from the WGEEP, it even went ahead with
the construction of the Gundia hydel plant without waiting for statutory
clearance from the Union ministry.
THE TRICK
In May 2008, Hassan’s then Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) KH Nagaraj
sought clearances for two mini-hydel projects in Kagneri and Kanchanakumari
reserved forests proposed by Maruthi Power Gen (India) Private Limited. In his
recommendation, the DCF claimed that there were no rare, endangered or unique
species of flora and fauna in the area.
On the contrary,
the reserve forests host the tiger, elephant, leopard, lion-tailed macaque,
Travancore flying squirrel, slender loris and Ceylon frogmouth among other
endangered species. They are also home to critically endangered frog species,
including the Gundia Indian Frog, which is found nowhere else in the world.
Moreover, the two
projects — 18.90 MW Hongadahalla (4.18 hectares) and 19 MW Yedakumari (4.20 hectares)
— were, in fact, parts of the same hydel plant on ground with a common
powerhouse. “The central clearance process,” observed the KETF report submitted
to the court earlier this month, “was avoided by disingenuously representing
the two turbines as two independent projects so as to slip in below the 25 MW
threshold for clearance.”
However, based on
the claims made by the project proponent and the DCF, the regional office of
the MOEF cleared the projects in March 2009 as the land requirement in each was
below 5 hectares and the capacity under 25 MW.
By November 2010,
environmental NGOs and activists moved the Karnataka High Court against the
development rush in the Western Ghats and sought quashing of 20 hydel projects
coming up in the ecologically sensitive areas.
In April 2011, the
HC stopped construction of all mini-hydel projects listed in the PIL, except
the two Maruthi projects as the company falsely claimed that 70 percent of work
was already completed. In July, the state government assured the court that it
will not permit any more mini-hydel projects in the Western Ghats.
THE PLOT
The two Maruthi projects continued till November 2011 when the Forest
Department filed a case for 13 violations and the Hassan DCF recommended
cancellation of the lease of forestland to the company. This February, the
court stopped work after an inquiry by top forest officials confirmed a slew of
irregularities:
• It was one
project and not two as permitted
• The capacity of the project was over 25 MW, requiring approval under the EPA
• The area required was above 5 hectares, requiring clearance from New Delhi
• Deviations from the original plan submitted for approval
• Presence of endangered species, such as elephants, in the project site
• Construction of a 1.6-km tunnel without forest clearance
• The capacity of the project was over 25 MW, requiring approval under the EPA
• The area required was above 5 hectares, requiring clearance from New Delhi
• Deviations from the original plan submitted for approval
• Presence of endangered species, such as elephants, in the project site
• Construction of a 1.6-km tunnel without forest clearance
In March, the
vigilance wing of the Forest Department pointed out further violations such as
encroachment on forestland, construction of bridges and roads without
clearance, and blocking natural streams with debris. The company, however,
argued in the court that existing forest roads should not be calculated as part
of the total land diversion required for the projects. Curiously, the state
government counsel agreed that use of forest roads did not require any
clearance even though all nonforestry activities need permission under Section
2 of the FCA as per orders in Working Plan 202/1995.
On the back foot,
Maruthi was ready to dump the Yedakumari project. The Forest Department
conducted yet another survey only to confirm that the Hongadahalla project
could not be implemented within the proposed 4.18 hectares and the roads
additionally accounted for more than 4 hectares of forestland. So, the
Principal Secretary (Forests, Ecology and Environment) wrote to the Forest
Department, permitting it to cancel Maruthi’s lease.
Instead, the
Forest Department conducted yet another inspection in July and top forest
officials of Hassan district reiterated the violations for the fourth time. The
officials said that the forestland requirement for the Hongadahalla project
alone was 10.6897 hectares, including 4.488 hectares for roads, and that the
company had already encroached 6.5166 hectares of rich, evergreen forestland.
Also, no permission was sought for putting up power transmission lines.
But when the
company lawyers repeated their argument on excluding existing forest roads from
the project plan, the government counsel, without any permission from the
Forest Department, agreed to submit a report without taking into account the
road area. If this contravention of the FCA was not enough, the Hassan DCF — a
signatory of the July report — made another submission in August stating that
the Hongadahalla project required only 4.18 hectares of forestland as
originally proposed. It did not mention the roads, the encroachments, the
dumping of debris, nothing.
THE TWIST
On 4 September, Karnataka’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) AK
Varma wrote to the principal secretary, confirming the previously mentioned
violations and some more. Yet, in the last hearing on 17 October, the
government did not place the facts in court.
In his letter, the
PCCF referred to a joint site inspection by the forest staff and the company on
18 August, 10 days before the Hassan DCF supported Maruthi’s claims in his
submission before the court. Besides already noted violations, the inspection
found that the company had expanded the existing 1-metre wide roads to 6
metres. The letter concluded that “a minimum area of 6.1239 hectares (excluding
the area of already existing coupe roads) is required for establishment of
18.90 MW Hongadahalla Mini Hydel Project”.
In its submission
to the HC this month, the KETF has categorically pointed out that “the forest
clearances granted to several mini-hydel projects were inappropriate” and
recommended their immediate withdrawal and prosecution of the officers involved
in providing such clearance “on the basis of misrepresentation”.
“The outcome of
this case will impact all projects on forestland across the country. If use of existing
coupe roads or digging tunnels don’t need permission anymore, the governments
will lose several hundred crores annually and may have to return all the
revenue collected as Net Present Value for diversion of forestland for such
purposes in the past,” says Guruprasad Timmapur, wildlife conservationist, who
has been following the case closely.
All eyes are on
the state now for the stand it will take when the case comes up for hearing
again on 7 November.
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