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National Wildlife board considers quarrying, infra project proposals in sensitive areas of Western Ghats

ByJayashree Nandi
Jun 30, 2022 12:27 AM IST

It is also considering denotification of 292.39 ha revenue land from National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

New Delhi: The standing committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL), the apex body in the country for all wildlife-related matters, is assessing several proposals along the Western Ghats region of Kerala and Karnataka which could possibly have an adverse effect on the ecology.

The NBWL standing committee has directed the chief wildlife warden of Kerala to prepare an appropriate mitigation plan and has deferred the proposal for the next meeting, according to the minutes of the May 30 meeting uploaded on the Union environment ministry’s Parivesh website this week. (Representational photo)
The NBWL standing committee has directed the chief wildlife warden of Kerala to prepare an appropriate mitigation plan and has deferred the proposal for the next meeting, according to the minutes of the May 30 meeting uploaded on the Union environment ministry’s Parivesh website this week. (Representational photo)

Besides the Western Ghats region, the NBWL is considering a proposal for a golf course and resort in the eco-sensitive zone of Keibul Lamjao National Park, bordering the Loktak lake in Manipur, according to the minutes of the body’s latest meeting held on May 30.

It is also considering denotification of 292.39 ha revenue land from National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh.

In the Western Ghats region, there is a proposal to divert 7.8991 ha of land from default eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) or 10 km radius around Malabar Wildlife Sanctuary for a stone crushing unit at Maruthonkara village in Vadakara taluk, in Kerala’s Kozhikode district at a distance of only 2.56 kms from the sanctuary.

The NBWL standing committee has directed the chief wildlife warden of Kerala to prepare an appropriate mitigation plan and has deferred the proposal for the next meeting, according to the minutes of the May 30 meeting uploaded on the Union environment ministry’s Parivesh website this week.

The NBWL is also considering a proposal to divert 4.606 ha from default eco-sensitive zone of Periyar Tiger Reserve for a stone quarry in Kerala’s Idukki district, about 8.61 km from the boundary of the tiger reserve. This proposal was also deferred as an ecological impact mitigation plan for the project was yet to be drafted.

Another proposal, by a private port company, for a granite building stone quarry over an area of 1.927 ha within the default ESZ of both Peppara Wildlife sanctuary and Neyyar Wildlife sanctuaries in Kerala was also discussed.

As the chief wildlife warden submitted that the granite quarry will have no ecological impact on the wildlife or forest, the NBWL recommended the project for granting wildlife clearance, the minutes of the meeting said.

The board also discussed a proposal for diverting 4.2649 ha from default ESZ of Peechi-Vazhani Sanctuary in Kerala’s Thrissur district for another stone quarry but deferred a final decision on it due to lack of an appropriate mitigation plan to minimise the plan’s impact on wildlife in the region.

The NBWL also discussed the contentious Hubli-Ankola railway line project in Karnataka, which involves diversion of 595.64 ha of forestland for the construction of a new broad gauge railway line from Hubli to Ankola, passing through tiger corridors and connecting Kali Tiger Reserve with Sharavathi Sanctuary.

The Karnataka chief wildlife warden had recommended the proposal for wildlife clearance on the condition that mitigation measures suggested by Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, be strictly implemented.

It is estimated that about two lakh trees between Bhadra Tiger Reserve and Kali Tiger Reserve will be felled for the project. The land is used by elephants for crossing at several places; tiger presence has also been recorded along this stretch.

The NBWL has constituted a committee of officials from the environment ministry, Indian Institute of Technology in Dharwad, Wildlife Institute of India and Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education among others to assess the area before coming to any conclusion.

The above proposals are particularly significant since most of them fall under the yet-to-be notified ecologically sensitive areas of Western Ghats – what does this mean? Aren’t we writing default ESZ above?

A fourth draft proposal issued by the environment ministry to notify ecologically sensitive areas in the Western Ghats is scheduled to lapse on Thursday (June 30).

While the proposal was issued on October 3, 2018, the ministry, in view of the Covid pandemic, on June 16 WHICH YEAR had extended the validity of the notification till December 31, 2021. FOR how many months is a draft proposal usually valid?

The time period of the proposal was once again extended by another six months, until June 30, in view of objections raised by the Western Ghats states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra – which claimed such a notification could impact the economic development in the region.

The environment ministry in WHEN had constituted a panel, headed by former director general of forests Sanjay Kumar, to re-examine the views of the state governments on conservation of ecologically sensitive areas and their developmental aspirations, officials familiar with the matter said.

The panel, however, is yet to submit its report, due to which the draft notification is likely to lapse on Thursday.

“Our report has to be very comprehensive and cover all aspects of the debate. There is now new knowledge on how climate change is affecting this region, how livelihoods of local people are getting affected. Since the last report by a high-level working group on the Western Ghats, many things have changed,” Kumar said.

The government had intended to prohibit or restrict industrial and developmental activities in around 37% of the area of the mountain range, an area of 59,940 sq km spread over five states, in the Ghats, the officials cited above said.

In 2010, an expert panel led by ecologist Madhav Gadgil had recommended that 75% of the 129,037 sq km area should be declared an environmentally sensitive area because of its dense forest and presence of a large number of endemic species.

Three years later, another panel headed by rocket scientist K Kasturirangan scaled it down to 50%. The Kasturirangan report’s recommendations were further diluted and four draft notifications have been issued since then.

In the northeast, the NBWL is considering a proposal for diversion of 82.54 ha of land for construction of a golf course (42.14 ha) and resort (40.40 ha) within the eco-sensitive zone of Keibul Lamjao National Park along Loktak lake in Manipur.

The board has decided that the Manipur government will organise a two-day joint meeting of the environment ministry, IIT Roorkee and other state departments in July before it takes a decision on the matter.

The Madhya Pradesh government, meanwhile, plans to de-notify 292.39 ha revenue land of National Chambal Wildlife Sanctuary. The NBWL is likely to take a call on the proposal after a National Tiger Conservation Authority-led committee submits its field report on the matter, the minutes of the meeting said.

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