Landslides along Western Ghats: Kerala paid the price for ignoring Madhav Gadgil's warning

Thiruvananthapuram: The name Madhav Gadgil triggered much dislike in Kerala during the early years of 2010 but towards the end of the decade the name echoed with deep remorse following the back to back landslides along the Western Ghats which claimed many lives.

Kerala witnessed massive protests against Gadgil due to misleading narratives over stringent restrictions which affected livelihood of large sections which were included in the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) headed by him during 2013.

Later, when Gadgil visited the landslide hit areas of Wayanad in 2019, hundreds of people gathered to eagerly listen to him.

When Kerala suffered a major natural calamity in 2018 claiming around 500 lives, the veteran ecologist termed it as a manmade disaster.

Environmentalists still firmly believe that what happened in Kerala was nothing but a protest sponsored by vested interest lobbies.

All mainstream political parties joined hands and fueled the protest by masses over a set of manipulated narratives that many urban areas could be even marked as ecologically sensitive zones and there could be blanket ban on quarrying, sand mining and construction activities in regions close to the Western Ghats if the Gadgil committee report was implemented in to do.

"Instead of simply decoding the reasonable restrictions proposed by the Gadgil committee report for the ordinary people to understand, the state government, mainstream political parties and religious and community heads became part of the misleading campaign that was sponsored by vested interest lobbies like the quarry owners," recollects known environmentalist and Western Ghats Protection Forum president N Badusha.

While over 600 villages in Kerala were found as ecologically sensitive by the Gadgil committee, the Kasturi Rangan committee brought it down to 123. The state government continues to give distance relaxations to quarries, even as extensive quarrying is often believed to be a key triggering factor of many landslides in Kerala.

The back to back landslides along the Western Ghats had literally moved the veteran ecologist. Despite his age imposed health issues, Gadgil visited the landslide hit areas of Puthumala in Wayanad in 2020. People, who once protested against him, gathered to listen to him.

Despite the repeated warning of nature as well as ecologists like Gadgil, the state government is widely accused of still going ahead with projects that pose serious threats to the ecology.

"Gadgil had raised strong concerns over the upcoming Meppadi - Anakampoyil twin tunnel path between Wayanad and Kozhikode. He repeatedly urged that the project should be dropped owing to the ecological impacts and risks of triggering natural calamity that it posed. Gadgil was really disturbed over the illogical activities happening under the cover of development," said Badusha.