The proposed project was rejected many times.
By Rakesh Agrawal
Waterfalls on the Chalakudy River, Thrissur district in Kerala. And, it has provided a heavenly backdrop to silver screens also like Mani Ratnam’s Dil Se, Guru and Ravan where gorgeous Aishwarya Roy falls into it or in the blockbuster, Bahubali.
Sadly, soon this piece of heaven on earth will be sacrificed at the altar of ‘development,’ to produce just 163 MW hydroelectricity that will also destroy 138.6 ha of forestland and jeopardize the livelihoods of forest and rive dependent tribal families.
Although, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest has sanctioned clearance for this proposed project of Kerala State Electricity Board on July 19, 2007 itself because of the protests by the environmentalist were are against it as will result in enormous destruction of the riparian ecosystem and by the local tribal population, the works on this project has been installed. Now, the newly installed left government, belonging to the CPI (M) has demanded to revive the project and has dubbed the protests against it as green fundamentalists, like the ex-Soviet and Chinese leadership, it also thinks that big is beautiful.
But, more than 500,000 people who depend on the river for drinking, irrigation and livelihood purposes, will be adversely affected by it and are determined to protest is tooth and nail. The Kadar tribals living in the area have taken a vow that it could be constructed only on their dead bodies, “They have to kill us before they could build this dam that’s a ploy to plunder its green cover and destroy the serene waterfall,” says KP Indira, a tribal leader. To strengthen their protest, they have formed a congregation, Vana Samrakshna Samiti and are determined to save their livelihoods, “Only a fool can argue that a dam can be built without harming its pristine forest and destroying the livelihoods of us, the forest dependents,” says Gopalan Klaippan, another tribal leader.
They are right as before construction of any big or small dam on river its impact assessment/analysis should be done in a scientific way otherwise it will pose threat to present ecology as well as economy. Prior to clearance it is mandatory to conduct public hearing as well as EIA study and as in 1998, Athirapally hydro-power project got clearance from Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) without public hearing so, in October 2001, Kerala high Court directed Kerala State Electricity Board and MoEF to follow all procedures for Environment Clearances. Public hearing was held in February 2002, in which it was observed that local communities and environmentalist are against the project. But on the basis of a report prepared by EIA agency -Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd, MoEF cleared the project in February 2005.
In March 2006, Kerala High Court cancelled the clearance and directed to reorganize public hearing. Then, a public hearing was held on 15 June 2012. The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP), led by Mr. Madhav Gadgil, constituted by MoEF to suggest conservation measures for Western Ghats, has rejected this proposal.
The proposed dam will affect a stretch of 28.5 hectares of riparian forest falls under the submergence area which is the home of Endangered fauna species like tiger, Asiatic elephant, Great Indian Hornbill, Malabar Giant Squirrel, Gaur, Lion Tailed Macaque, Nilgiri Langur, and rarest and highly endangered Cochin Forest Cane turtle (Heosemys silvatica) etc. and unique niche specific riparian forests. The elephant corridor between the Parambikulam Sanctuary and the Pooyamkutty forests will also be affected as it’ll submerge a large area.
That will be too high a price for the power that can also be produced by miro-hydel and run-of-the-rive projects, without causing any environmental and humane disaster.