Review projects in forests: HC panel

[Mrudul Godbole]

Review projects in forests: HC panel

Karnataka Elephant Task Force Recommends Prosecution Of Officials Misrepresenting Facts While Approving Proposals

Saswati Mukherjee B | TNN

Bangalore: A task force set up by the high court has recommended time-bound review of clearances granted or pending for various projects, including mini-hydel ones. There has been loss and fragmentation of elephant habitats due to ill-planned commercial infrastructure projects, notes the Karnataka Elephant Task Force (KETF) which submitted its report to the court in September.

The task force recommended action against projects lying within the distribution range of elephants in Karnataka.

“The government must be directed to prosecute officials who have misrepresented facts about presence of elephants and other wildlife while recommending project proposals,” the report noted.

For instance, in south-western Sakaleshpur, forest clearances granted to several mini-hydel projects were inappropriate. Shockingly, forest officials certified that the region contained no wildlife that is protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, which was a clear misinterpretation considering the substantial presence of elephants, leopards and other wildlife in the surrounding areas.

In the case of the Maruti power-gen project coming up in the Western Ghats, central clearance was avoided by representing the two turbines as two independent projects so as to slip in below 25 MW threshold for clearance.

From all available evidence, the location of these commercial projects are at critical points of elephant movement and such gross violations hinder the elephant conservation policies, the report said.

It said that all future forest clearance applications related to minihydel projects that fall within the elephant conservation zone or the co-existence zone must be referred to the chief wildlife warden. The chief warden must then assess the potential impact on elephants and other wildlife, it said.

Home to 5,300-6,200 wild elephants over an area of 14,500 sqkm (according to 2010 census), Karnataka hosts about one-fifth of the total elephant population of the country.

EXPERT GROUP

The elephant task force moots the formation of a Karnataka elephant expert group within the State Wildlife Board, with a mandate to plan, advise and assist in elephant conservation and management. “The group must include ecologists, wildlife biologists and social scientists who can bring in sound knowledge of elephant ecology and human society,” said Prof Raman Sukumar, head of the task force.

THE WAY AHEAD: The task force says all future clearance applications must be referred to the chief wildlife warden

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Unless the officials who help in the misleading facts are prosecuted, these projects will continue to happen. Officials and even ecologists who have land around these places and have interests in the projects in some manner and are influencing the outcome of the project by being part of the committees and panels should be found out and prosecuted.