The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) Committee, which visited the mini-hydel power project sites in the Western Ghats following an order of the High Court of Karnataka, has found glaring violation of the Wildlife Act by privately owned Maruthi Power (Gen) India Private Limited (MPIPL).
The team comprising two MoEF officials, S N Somashekar, Chief Conservator of Forests (Centre), and N S Murali, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Centre) along with Chief Conservator of Forests Vijay Kumar Gogi and other officials, visited the site at Kagneri and Kenchankumari reserve forests of Sakleshpur range in Hassan district where work on the MPIPL hydel power plant is on.
MPIPL had sought permission to implement two mini-hydel projects in Kagneri and Kenchankumari reserve forests. But it has violated norms which say that if the forestland diversion involves more than five hectares (ha), the proposal has to be sent to the Central government with a recommendation from the State Advisory Group. If the power project is above 25MW, it needs a mandatory public hearing and Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) as per the Environment Protection Act, 1986.
The team found that in order to bypass these mandatory guidelines, the company had split the project into two — 4.18 ha and 4.20 ha in Survey 1 and Survey 16, respectively, in Yedakumari village. The project was divided into 18.9MW and 19MW to keep the capacity under 25MW, the petitioner alleged in his PIL.
The committee, in its report, has also mentioned that MPIPL had constructed a tunnel of 900 metre length (out of the planned 1.6 km) for which no permission had been obtained from the Forest department.
“Although the company has shown the tunnel position in its sketch, it has neither shown the length and the width, nor the area in either of the projects. Besides, it has not sought any land for the construction of the tunnel,” the team said in its report.
“The company has only shown the tunnel in the project drawing, but no specific permission for forestland diversion has been taken for the construction of the tunnel,”said a source in the department.
The report also noted that the tunnel appeared to be passing under the Bangalore-Mangalore railway line and could pose a threat to the safety of passengers. The committee also found that the company had illegally encroached on forest land for building roads and dumping debris.
The area, the team observed, had evergreen forests, rich in biodiversity. It is home to elephants, leopards, gaurs, sambars and other wildlife protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
Deputy Conservator of Forests K H Nagaraj, in his initial report while permitting the project, had given a no-objection certificate stating that the project site did not have any rare wildlife. The MoEF guidelines say that any area with rare and endangered animals requires clearance for any human activity from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). The team observed that no opinion had been sought from the PCCF (Wildlife), while permitting the project.
Farmers allege they were facing serious threats from elephants, as the animals, scared by the explosives used by MPIPL, were wandering into adjoining agricultural fields and human habitations.