Environmentalists on Tuesday demanded that the Kerala government order independent studies into the geological and social impact of the controversial Wayanad twin tunnel project. Earlier in the day, a mudslide near a construction site for the project in Kalladi left three people dead and five others missing.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, writer and activist CR Neelakandan called for construction at all sites under the project to be halted.
“The mudslip is a warning signal for the tunnel project and for such development activities in Wayanad. The project was given green signal without conducting proper, reliable geological and hydrological studies. This is a region where the phenomenon of soil piping, which can trigger landslides in the monsoon, has been observed. Therefore the state government must order such studies by expert, independent agencies before restarting the tunnel work,” he said.
He added that alternative travel options for the people of Wayanad must be considered, if studies showed that the project was unviable.
Environmental observer Sridhar Radhakrishnan said the tunnel project “is not a symbol of progress, but a potential engineered catastrophe.”
“The state government must urgently revoke the recommendation of the SEAC and environmental clearance given by SEIAA. It must ask an independent expert committee to conduct a comprehensive environmental-social impact study. The approval of the SEIAA was not based on scientific evidence. It was politically motivated. It overlooked critical past studies and warnings to grant approval for the project,” he wrote on Facebook
{{/usCountry}}“The state government must urgently revoke the recommendation of the SEAC and environmental clearance given by SEIAA. It must ask an independent expert committee to conduct a comprehensive environmental-social impact study. The approval of the SEIAA was not based on scientific evidence. It was politically motivated. It overlooked critical past studies and warnings to grant approval for the project,” he wrote on Facebook
{{/usCountry}}The project, which envisages an 8.11 kilometre-long tube tunnel between Meppadi in Wayanad district and Anakkampoyil in Kozhikode district, was announced in 2020 as an alternate travel path to the hill district instead of the congested Thamarassery Ghat road. Despite stiff resistance from environmental activists and initial objections by the State Level Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC), work began in 2024, weeks after a major landslide near Meppadi killed over 300 people.
The construction involves drilling into an extremely fragile section of the Western Ghats and tunnelling through at least 14 hotspots in an ecologically sensitive zone (ESZ). Activists argued that the tunnelling and drilling would exacerbate the loosening of the top soil in the region, trigger landslips, destabilise slopes and interfere with the movement of wild elephants through the forests above it.
Before giving a green signal to the project, the SEAC had in June 2024 taken a cautionary tone regarding its environmental impact.
“Areas near the proposed tunnel road are classified as high or moderate landslide hazard zones….the stability analysis shows that chances of failure exist in the project areas. The overburden slide or flow down at the surface of overburden and underlying rock is a possibility,” it noted.
An environment impact assessment report by Konkan Rail Corporation Limited (KRCL) and Kitco in 2023 also admitted that the project area was “known for frequent landslides especially during monsoon on the mountain slopes”.