On June 10, the Kerala government decided to pursue the controversial Athirappilly hydro electric power project.
The survey for the project had begun in 1979 but successive governments could not implement it because of the resistance from the state's environmentally-conscious public.
The latest decision by the Left Democratic Front government means that the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) can now seek techno-economic clearance from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
In this context, scientist Dr T V Sajeev, who works at the Kerala Forest Research Institute, explains the different aspects of the Athirappilly power project, including how the proposed project will destroy the biodiversity and how mass agitations stalled the project so far, in the latest episode of Onmanorama's Let's Talk podcast.
This is the edited excerpts from the podcast.
You can listen to the full podcast here.
What is Athirappilly Hydro Electric Power project?
Chalakkudy River is in the central part of Kerala. The 132-km long river originates in the uphill of the western ghats. It flows through many landscapes, starting from Tamil Nadu and passing through Kerala. As of now, the river has six dams. The last dam was built at Peringalkuthu. The river supplies water to 10 lakh people in 22 gram panchayats in Kerala.
What will be the impact of the Athirappilly project on biodiversity?
The proposed project will submerge 136 hectares of virgin forests, which is the only pristine, low-elevation riverine forest in Kerala. The submergence zone is unique because of the presence of various habitats in which very large number of species thrive.
Butterflies & dragonflies
The submergence zone holds 44 species of dragonflies, nine of which are endemic and 169 butterfly species, of which nine are endemic and 14 are protected species as per Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Construction of the dam would impact on the Danine butterfly migration prior to the south west monsoon in which thousands of butterflies belonging to six species participate.
It is the habitat of Schedule-1 species like the king cobra, many species of endemic day geckos, the vulnerable parachute spider and the endangered Travancore cane turtle.
Fishes
The dam would impact 34 species of specialist fishes in the area of which 10 are endangered, four are vulnerable, three are near-threatened and two are critically endangered. The very survival of the Balitorine fishes is dependant on the microhabitats like the rock bed, boulders and pebbles. They can survive only in running water.
Frogs
The submergence zone is the breeding habitat of Endangered fossorial fossil frog nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis Bou and Bossuyt, 2003 and habitat of Ramanella Anamalaiensis Rao, 1937, a lost amphibian rediscovered after 73 years.
Elephants
The submergence zone is the only annual migration route of elephants that travel between the Parambikulam and Periyar basins. This travel is mandatory since the Parambikulam forests would have shortage of water during the summer months. The reservoir of the proposed project begins from just next to the power house of the Peringalkuthu project. The loss of migratory corridor will result in the escalation of man-elephant conflict.
Hornbill
Athirappilly is a unique location in western ghats where we can see sympatric nesting (co-existence) of three important hornbills species.
The Western Ghats Ecology Exper Panel, headed by Dr Madhav Gadgil, too pointed out that the Athirappilly project would kill biodiversity. Then why are the governments keen to implement it?
Athirappilly is not the only power project proposed by the electricity board. If the board is able to construct it, we will have to see more such projects coming up in the pristine forests of Kerala.
Even the Chalakkudi River Protection Forum, which spearheaded the agitation against the project, was sure that the project will not come up as the river doesn't have water for a hydro-electric power station. It stopped the agitation (in 2017 after the environmental clearance by the central government expired) with a lot of belief in the data.
However, the Kerala electricity board recently got a no-objection certificate from the state government. Now I think the environmentally-conscious people of Kerala will have to fight another battle.
How could Kerala stall Athirappilly project so far? Can you throw light on the environmental agitations in Kerala?
Kerala's environmental consciousness has undergone a sea change from the very first struggle in Silent Valley. If you trace the lineage of environment struggles in the state, you can find that one of the cardinal starting points was the launch of a zoological club in 1972 by John C Jacob, who was a faculty at St Joseph's College Devagiri in Kozhikode. The club organised first nature camp, took students to the forest, stayed there for a couple of days, talked to them about the dynamics of the forest. People who learnt from these clubs later spearheaded environmental campaigns in Kerala. In the meantime, the state witnessed many environmental struggles. After Silent Valley, there was agitations against the Chaliyar river-polluting Mavoor Gwalior Ryons in Kozhikode and water-exploiting Coca-Cola in Plachimada in Palakkad.
In the meantime, the mode of mass agitations have also changed with scientific institutions producing huge amount of data on natural ecosystems. This equipped environmentally conscious people with data to raise their voices.
(Let's Talk is a weekly podcast from Onmanorama. You can listen to previous episodes here).
