Death sentence to Kali Valley?

A Karnataka cabinet subcommittee has taken a decision to reduce the protective nature of the forest cover under Ecologically Sensitive Zones (ESZ) in Kali Valley from 1,202 sq km to 312 sq km. This is endorsed by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change in Delhi (MoEFCC).

The collusion of the state and central governments, with different political thoughts, is a definitive indicator of the way our natural resources are appropriated by the powerful elite, tweaking rules and regulations on their own behalf.

Kali Valley is part of the fragile Western Ghats region on the border of Karnataka and Goa in Uttara Kannada district. Although the Kali River originates only 32 km from the coast, it traverses 183 km majestically in the midst of Kali Valley to join the Arabian Sea at Karwar.

The catchment forests in the valley, covering 1,890 sq km, are well-known as biodiversity hotspots, hosting the world-famous Dandeli teak, hornbills, and rich flora with rare medicinal plants.

The 2006 declaration of an area of 818 sq km as Anshi–Dandeli Tiger Reserve was crucial to keeping intact the health of the river and the wildlife. The draft notification issued by MoEFCC in November 2016 was to demarcate the ESZ around this reserve.

This meant legal protection being provided to prohibit destructive activities like mining, polluting industries and building of resorts. It paved way for a green economy by supporting ecologically-sound technology to develop the forest villages.

Political interference

However, local vested interests, with backing from political leadership from the region, launched a sustained campaign to build ‘public pressure’ against the ESZ, with a few handpicked anti-social elements leading the campaign, spreading the rumour that it is anti-development. This formed the basis for forming the cabinet subcommittee that eventually recommended the drastic reduction in the ESZ area.

While taking decisions on natural resources, the cabinet is supposed to consider the overall interest of the state and act as a trustee of those resources for future generations. But in this case, the cabinet has jettisoned this responsibility and joined hands with the destructive lobbies of mining, tourism and resort mafia. By reducing the area, it has opened the floodgates of environmental destruction in Kali Valley.

The Great Canara Trail, a trekking route and a pet project of the local politician and the cabinet minister from this region, had hit a roadblock due to the notification of the ESZ. Similarly, the Hubballi-Ankola rail line was also facing the problem as a part of it was to run through the periphery of the Anshi Tiger Reserve.

Following in the footsteps of the Yettinahole river diversion project, the cabinet has also approved a Rs 320 crore project to divert Kali waters to provide irrigation in the constituency of the cabinet minister. With the reduction of ESZ, these mega projects will automatically get clearance. It will also legalise the illegal mushrooming of resorts around the region.

The pristine Kali Valley contributes towards generating 2,200 MW of hydel and nuclear power that sustain the development of the state. The sustainability of these hydel dams is possible only by maintaining the forest catchment intact, providing assured water retention and halting the process of silting.

The Anshi Tiger Reserve is part of this catchment. Any destruction of this catchment will have multiple impacts on power generation, and on the lives of four lakh people who depend on this river. Political interference will pave way for the irreversible ecocide of this fragile ecosystem.

With climate change at our door steps, how can the state cabinet decide to allow further destruction of natural forests? These forests are the only answer to mitigate the impact of climate change. Tweaking rules to suit the interests of one cabinet minister is the height of misuse of power and government machinery.

Th cabinet subcommittee decision is a brazen act of the mix of ecological illiteracy and political arrogance that dominates the state’s policymaking to support vested interests, forcing change in the legal regime from conservation to destruction.

The subject of forests and wildlife is in the Concurrent list of the Constitution, with the central government expected to act as a guardian that drafts plans and policies to promote conservation.

The state is vested with the responsibility of implementing those polices. Unfortunately, in the case of Kali, this constitutional principle has been bypassed, weakening the established institutional framework.

The monsoon has failed for the third year in a row and Karnataka is facing one of its worst droughts. This dismal scenario calls for urgent action to protect natural resources, not destroy them.

The irony is in the way the Congress-led Karnataka government and the NDA-led central government have colluded to award the death sentence to Kali Valley! Obviously, when it comes to destruction of natural resources, even bitter political opponents do not hesitate to join hands.