Environment experts and activists have opposed the Jog Management Authority's decision to reboot a five-year-old project to spruce up the Jog Falls with the addition of water recirculation and a five-star hotel as a disastrous venture that not only damages the environmentally sensitive area but also violates the rules governing the eco sensitive zone (ESZ).
In its application dated June 3, 2021, the Authority sought permission to build a five-star hotel on 10,000 sqm in lieu of the existing PWD guest house at a cost of Rs 75 crore along with a Rs 20 crore ropeway. Interestingly, it does not have the money but seeks a private player to design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) the projects.
"Since 2015, the Authority has been filing applications for one component of the project to show no damage is caused to the environment. However, when looked at in totality, the project is a disaster. Let them first count the number of landslides in the Western Ghats in the last few years. They are hiding so much from the public because they know the project violates all the rules. They have used fancy terms instead of saying privatisation of the tourist spot," a retired forest officer said.
Living Earth Foundation, an NGO, has now written to the Regional Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change by tracing the project's trajectory. "All the components of the project involve significant amounts of construction in forest lands within the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the newly constituted Sharavathi Valley LTM (Lion Tailed Macaque) Sanctuary," the letter, signed by former chief wildlife warden B J Hosmath and advocate Sreeja Chakraborty, said.
In the letter, they noted that despite having all qualities of a town development project, the Authority's application doesn't contain a detailed project report. It said the plan, which also includes a project to make Jog Falls perennial by building a 32.22 MW hydropower plant for pumping water, was also in violation of the ESZ.
Noting that the Madhav Gadgil's 2011 report on the Western Ghats has classified the Sharavathi River Basin as one of the "most ecologically vulnerable regions" of the Western Ghats and recommended against any new dam or hydro project, the letter said large scale development to increase tourist footfalls opposes the basic tenets of the ecotourism.
Speaking to DH, Hosmath said a cumulative impact assessment of the project as well as a detailed study on the carrying capacity of the site has to be carried out before going ahead with the project.
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