JOIN USForest department under pressure to clear Shivanasamudra project
The Forest department is under pressure yet again to clear the mini- hydel project in Shivanasamudra.
The Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), after inspecting the proposed site in January, rejected the proposal as it fell in the elephant corridor and within the eco-sensitive zone of Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.
The project was also rejected by the State Board for Wildlife at a meeting held in August 2015. The hydel project also requires mandatory clearance from the National Board for Wildlife.
Meanwhile, the government has tweaked the project and divided it into two mini hydel units to obtain clearance.
Seven months later, the government has asked forest officials in Kollegal division and in the headquarters in Bengaluru to consider the project positively.
Officials on condition of anonymity said there is pressure from the chief minister’s office and Energy Minister D K Shivakumar.
“We have been directed to form another team to visit and clear the project,” a senior forest department official who did not wish to be named said.
The Shivanasamudra mini-hydel project is proposed to be built and expanded on the land diverted to Pioneer Power Corporation, which is already running a mini- hydel plant on lease. The new project is proposed to come up on survey number 1 in Shivanasamudra village, Kollegal taluk, under the name of Basaveshwara mini-hydel project.
“Though these are touted as two different projects, they are actually one. Any project above 25 MW cannot be built by a private agency and are not eligible for subsidies. So if they are shown as mini-hydel projects, they are eligible for higher power purchase tariffs by the government, which is not available to projects above 25 MW.
There are already nine mini-hydel projects in the area in the course of Cauvery and Shimsha rivers. The cumulative impact of all such projects should now be assessed,” said Santosh S, conservationist.
Malathi Priya Malemahadeswara, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Kollegal, said she and the CCF submitted three reports in the last one year rejecting the proposal with reasons why it cannot be implemented. “Members of the SBW had also visited the location and rejected the proposal. They had also directed that the existing Pioneer project be stopped after its lease expires,” she said.