Karnataka: 10 years after NGT order, projects get nod sans carrying capacity check

Bengaluru: Nearly 10 years after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order directed the state government to look into the carrying capacity of the Western Ghats before approving projects, the government continues to green signal projects. 

This, even as a carrying capacity report, accessed by DH, has been gathering dust.

Last year, Forest, Ecology and Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre set up a new committee of senior IFS officers to assess the carrying capacity of the Ghats. 

The order came following protests from conservationists that approvals were given without assessing cumulative impact of projects on the Ghats.

Even as the committee continues to work on a report, DH learnt that the government is sitting on a carrying capacity report by a committee set up by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC).

The committee, in which the chief wildlife warden of Karnataka was a member, submitted the report as far back as July 2018.

It adopted the 1,533 eco sensitive areas (ESAs) as demarcated by the high-level working group, but took up a new approach to rank sensitivity based on endemism of species, altitude of area, rainfall data, threatened animals, rare species, flagship species and corridor value.

As many as 1,281 villages (88%) were classified as ecologically very high sensitive zones (ESZ-1), 56 (3.83%) as highly sensitive (ESZ-II) and 12 (7.92%) villages as medium sensitive. It left out 12 villages due to lack of full data.

“The committee suggests declaring the entire ESZ-1 (1,281 villages) as ‘no go area’ for all developmental activities to protect ecosystem vitality and human health,” it said, noting that infrastructure needs have to be assessed by multidisciplinary expert institutions. Going by its line, the pumped storage project in Sharavathi valley lion-tailed macaque sanctuary should have been rejected.

The committee suggested cumulative impact assessment of over 26 hydropower projects in the Ghats and a study of their impact on rivers.

The Sharavathi PSP is only one of the several projects the government has approved without referring to the report. The others are the widening of national highway 202 between Tumakuru and Shivamogga approved in Feb 2019, construction of a stretch of NH-766C, besides the illegal approval (since quashed) to the Hubballi-Ankola railway line.

NGT orders ignored

The MoEF&CC set up the committee after an order by the NGT in Feb 2016.

Its mandate was “to conduct a comprehensive study to assess carrying capacity of Western Ghats region in Karnataka”.

Asked why the report was not considered, department sources said there was no government order passed to that effect.

To a question, Khandre said he was not aware of the report. “If such a report exists, it has not been brought to my notice. I will seek a copy of it soon,” he said.

Sagar-based conservationist Akhilesh Chipli rued that the report’s recommendations had been ignored.

“It is unfortunate that the department has not referred to the report for the last few years. The government is once again investing time and resources to conduct another carrying capacity study. What’s the use of more studies if they are not implemented,” he asked.

Principal chief conservator of forests (head of forest force) Meenakshi Negi, who heads the latest committee, said they will look into all carrying capacity reports of the Ghats to come up with recommendations.