Diversion of grassland for infra projects under scrutiny

Two-member committee to visit Amrit Mahal Kaval in Challakere

The Southern Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal has set up a two-member expert committee to visit Challakere in Chitradurga district, where about 10,000 acres of the traditional grassland and forest area (‘Amrit Mahal Kaval’) has been given for defence, nuclear, industrial and infrastructure projects.

The committee, comprising S Ravichandra Reddy, retired professor of Ecology, Bangalore University, and K V Anantharaman, Deputy Director, Scientist ‘C’, Central Silk Board, will study the ecological and environmental consequences of diverting the land for such projects.

The decision to set up the committee was taken on March 21, and the Environment Support Group (ESG) at a press conference on Wednesday claimed that the action was based on applications filed by Leo F Saldanha and ESG in February.

Interim relief

“Through the application, we prayed for an interim relief of stay on ongoing activities and for allowing access to grazing pastures for local pastoralists.

“Despite the Tribunal repeatedly seeking the response of the Karnataka government and Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and directing Karnataka's Principal Secretary for the Environment department to appear in person, there has been no response,” Saldanha said.

“Taking this situation into account, the 21st March order observes that ‘In the considered opinion of the Tribunal, the counter of the respondents have to be taken into consideration before deciding the question whether to grant an order of interim relief or not and hence, (the case hearing) has got to be adjourned granting time till April 15, 2013 to file their counter’,” the organisation quoted the Tribunal.

It is made clear that if the counter is not filed by any of the respondents, it will be taken that they have no counter to offer.

‘Laws violated’

ESG alleges that the State government has “comprehensively violated various forest, biodiversity and environmental protection laws by doing this without Statutory Public Hearings.”

The group has contended that gross illegalities have been committed despite the widely known fact that these ecologically sensitive grassland ecosystems serve as a special and critical habitat to a variety of flora and fauna.

It argues that large herds of the highly threatened antelope species such as blackbuck graze these grasslands and that the ecosystem is a typical habitat for critically endangered birds such as Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican.

“These ecosystems have, for centuries supported the rearing of drought-tolerant locally-bred variety of Amrit Mahal Cattle, besides providing a wide range of livelihoods opportunities for communities in about 60 directly impacted villages located around the Kaval,” Saldanha said, pointing out that it was in consideration of all these that the State designated such Kaval land as district forests under the Karnataka Forest Rules, 1969.

Arguing that the Challakere Kaval land ranges over 12,000 acres, and constitute the last remaining large contiguous semi-arid grassland in Karnataka, the organisation said: “The State which boasted at the time of independence of possessing about 4,00,000 acres of ‘Kaval’ grassland, is now, as per the Forest department submissions to the Supreme Court, left with only about 45,000 acres.”

Also, the organisation has claimed that they have been producing ‘incontrovertible’ evidence to show that the beneficiaries of the illegal transfer of such ecologically precious grassland/forest land include Defense Research Development Organisation, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and Indian Space Research Organisation among others.

All of these proponents have been provided such ecologically precious land at a pittance of Rs 30,000-Rs 35,000 per acre,” ESG maintains.