Centre put Sharavathy & Yettinahole projects on hold over violations

The Centre has deferred a proposal to divert around 54 hectares of forest land in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats for the 2,000-megawatt Sharavathy Pumped Storage Hydroelectric Project in Karnataka after members flagged serious ecological concerns and violations of forest laws. According to the minutes of the 11th meeting of the Environment Ministry's Forest Advisory Committee held on October 27, the proposed project area lies within the Sharavathy Valley Lion-Tailed Macaque Sanctuary, which is located in the central regions of the Western Ghats. The committee said the project involves the felling of more than 15,000 trees, many of which are endemic to the Western Ghats, one of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots. It said the forest tracts fall under "eco-class 1 and eco-class 3" with canopy densities of 0.5 and 0.2.

According to minutes of the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC),the project would require the felling of over 15,000 trees within dense tropical evergreen and semi-evergreen forests — ecosystems the panel described as “highly complex and impossible to restore once destroyed.The FAC noted that the proposed project area lies entirely within an ecologically sensitive zone that supports several threatened species, including the LionTailed Macaque, Tiger, Leopard, Sloth Bear, King Cobra, and Malabar Giant Squirrel.

The committee cited a wildlife census recording 730 Lion-Tailed Macaques in the sanctuary and warned that “loss of canopy and habitat would intensify fragmentation, posing a serious risk to the survival of LTMs.” Both the Deputy Inspector General of Forests (Central), Bengaluru, and the Chief Wildlife Warden of Karnataka opposed the project, warning that the hydel infrastructure — involving deep tunnelling, blasting, and excavation up to 500 metres — could trigger landslides and erosion in Seismic Zone 3, where the region lies.

It concluded that the compensatory afforestation land offered by the project developer cannot compensate for the loss of wet evergreen forests, noting that the CA sites proposed are “ecologically different from the forests being lost.” The panel has asked the project proponent to conduct a detailed hydrological study, prepare a wildlife mitigation plan, and minimise tree felling before the proposal can be reconsidered.

The Centre has deferred ex-post facto clearance for the gravity canal component of Karnataka's Yettinahole drinking water project after finding large-scale unauthorised work, dumping of muck inside forests and serious risks to wildlife and environment, official records show. The panelsaid there have been complaints that Phase I of the Yettinahole project has already caused massive landslides and destruction of the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats, without being able to deliver drinking water to the districts claimed by the user agency. The panel said this background made it even more essential to evaluate the proposal carefully before granting any further clearance.

(State Correspondent)