A view of Sharavathi valley.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: Members of the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) were presented with a list of illegalities in the procedure followed in the efforts to get clearances for the pumped storage project in the Sharavathi Valley Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM) sanctuary.
The proposal of Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) that seeks 131.81 acre forest in the valley to build a powerhouse between two dams has received widespread criticism. Following a direction from the NBWL standing committee, a three-member committee, including board members H S Singh and Raman Sukumar, visited the site and received grievances from conservationists and experts in a meeting held at Sagar.
Activist Akhilesh Chipli said there were five major concerns, from illegalities to deliberate obfuscations. He pointed to information obtained under the Right to Information Act to note that the KPCL was creating a 'fait accompli' situation by not disclosing the requirement of an additional forest land of 58.8 hectare (145.29 acre) to build transmission lines.
As per the rules, disclosure of the full scope of the project is an essential part of the clearance process as it helps in assessing the full impact of the project. "The power evacuation is not part of the present project, but will come as a separate project subsequently. According to Honourable Supreme Court Judgement dated 6th July 2011 in the case of Lafarge Umiam Mining Pvt Ltd in Writ Petition (Civil) 202 of 1995, this proposal will lead to Fait accompli as the transmission lines and the power plant are two essential parts of a single power project," Chipli noted.
Secondly, while disclosing the cost benefit ratio, the KPCL inflated the benefit to 2643. After questions were raised by the central authorities, it was revised to 75. However, Chipli noted that even the revised figure was based on "irrational considerations" as KPCL calculated only the cost of forest land. "Considering the project cost and the water pumping cost the actual CB ratio will be less than 1, which suggests the project is economically not viable," he said.
Thirdly, he said, the degradation of the forest will hit the carbon sequestration capacity, which has not been ignored. The fourth and fifth matters concerned the failure to consider alternatives to the project and the destabilisation of the Sharavathi valley.
Landslide vulnerability
Vrukshalaksha Andolana's Anant Hegde Ashisar questioned the absence of senior forest officials during the meeting. "The department has recommended the project without even looking into the detailed project report. We have urged the NBWL members to reject the project in all its forms," he said.
Ashisar said the government has failed to consider the landslide vulnerability of the ghats, the ecological sensitivity of the valley and the harm done by past hydro electric and linear projects.