Karnataka - Mysore   

Fresh questions raised on feasibility of power plant

MYSORE: The spate of elephant deaths and increase in man-animal conflict around Mysore due to growing anthropogenic pressure on forests has raised fresh questions on the feasibility of the proposed power plant at Chamalapura in H.D. Kote.

Not withstanding the present power crisis there is a case against the coal-fired power plant in view of the recent incidents in Mysore region, according to activists, who fear that the Government may steamroll the opposition against the proposed plant by citing “popular demand” in view of the gravity of the power situation.

The proposed site is hardly 25 km from Bandipur and Nagarahole national parks and the consequences of having a coal-fired 1250 MW power plant so close to forests has to be assessed in the light of increasing frequency of animals straying from their natural habitats due to degradation of forests and shortage of fodder. Worse, sources in the Forest Department have admitted to the presence of a fringe tiger population outside the national park boundaries but within a few km away from Chamalapura.

“The tiger census takes into account the animal count inside the national parks but not outside the protected areas and there are reserved forests within a few km from Chamalapura,” according to a senior official. This is significant in the light of recent incidents in which large herds of elephants repeatedly strayed into human habitats. While more than 100 elephants were counted in a herd at Omkara block in the Hediyala range of Bandipur about 75 elephants were sighted in a herd near Nugu.

Hence, environmentalists are perturbed over the Government’s ambivalent stance on the power project though it has been more than four months since Minister for Energy K.S. Eshwarappa announced that a final decision on the project would be taken “within a month”.

The proposed power plant if approved, will require 3,000 acres of land and will be built at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,000 crore. It will require 150 million tonnes of coal to be procured from Orissa and transported by rail to Mysore from where special dedicated tracks have to be laid to Chamalapura which is about 25 km from Mysore.

The human cost of the project, which entails displacement of nearly 20,000 people, has not been addressed properly while environmental aspects have not been considered seriously.

Sources in the Forest Department told The Hindu that the environmental cost of the project would be devastating to the region which is already plagued by man-animal conflicts resulting in the death of scores of animals every year. What is significant is that Bandipur-Nagarahole belt of forests harbours both tigers and elephants which are the flagship species in conservation efforts.

In the latest tiger census reports released by the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Nagarahole-Bandipur-Mudumalai-Wayanad forests have been cited as having the single largest population of tigers in India with about 180 cats in these forests. It is also home to nearly 10,000 elephants and harbours the highest density of Asiatic elephants on the continent.

But the perceived increase in animal population, increasing deforestation, fragmentation and degradation of wildlife habitat, extension of agricultural land to the boundaries of the national park have forced animals to stray outside their natural habitat in search of food only to be killed in the process.

Hence, in view of the above developments fresh questions are being raised whether it is necessary to have a coal-fired power plant near prime tiger and elephant habitats.

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