DEVELOPMENT
Realty threat to the hills
DHARMALINGAM VENUGOPAL
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The current boom in real estate prices in Kotagiri can have a disastrous effect on the area’s natural heritage sites.
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Photo: K. Ananthan
Ecologically sensitive: The Longwood Shola in Kotagiri.
GUDALUR was lost to encroachments. Ooty was lost to constructions. Coonoor was lost to commerce. And now Kotagiri is being lost to real estate. So goes the lament of the residents.
“If good sense does not prevail soon, the last of the hill stations on the fabled Nilgiri hills will be lost forever,” says a long-time resident of Kotagiri in despair.
Triggered by various rumours and half-truths — the IT boom is coming to the hills; an influential politician is eying a piece of land; an actor has bought land; a top official has offered to buy yet another piece — the real estate boom in this tiny resort is feeding and, in turn, is being fed by gossip. What would not have fetched more than a few thousand rupees a few days ago is now being quoted in lakhs.
Incredible offers
The offers, being made by middlemen and speculators, are too tempting to resist for long time residents already rendered vulnerable by the prolonged crisis in the tea industry.
“At this rate no resident can hope to acquire land, even for housing, in the future,” muses a middle-class teacher. Remarkably, not many of the Kotagiri youngsters, either in Indian or abroad, seem to be interested in this mad race.
Kotagiri is the oldest and the third largest of the hill stations in the Nilgiris. It represents the best of all hill stations in terms of its balmy weather, rural flavour, rustic charm and general tranquillity. Its significance in the native culture and Nilgiri history is enormous.
In the past, it has played host to governor-generals and governors, missionaries and theosophists, civil servants and planters and so on.
Above all, Kotagiri is the abode of Goddess Heththe, the guardian deity of the native Badagas, besides several other sacred peaks.
The realty boom, which was slowly building up over the last two years, seems to have entered a virulent phase in recent months.
Intriguingly, the boom has left the town relatively untouched while spreading to the outskirts particularly near places of tourist interests such as the Longwood Shola, Bikkapathi Reserve, Elk Falls, Kodanaad viewpoint and Catherine Falls. These are ecologically and culturally sensitive protected zones where tourism-related activities are closely monitored and regulated. The current boom in land near and abutting these areas is bound to spell disaster to these natural heritage sites.
Catherine Falls, nine km from Kotagiri, is a double-cascaded falls; the second highest in the district. A popular tourist spot, it is named after the wife of M.D. Cockburn, who pioneered coffee in Kotagiri and Yercaud. The Cockburns, all buried in a local cemetery, contributed greatly to Kotagiri’s development. The falls command a lovely view of the forests and woodlands, intercepted by tea gardens.
The glittering Dolphin’s Nose of Coonoor is also seen across the mighty gap in the hills, which also happens to be one the three great fault systems in the geological formation of the Blue Mountains.
Environmental conditions
A decade ago, the Tamil Nadu Government dropped the proposal for a mini hydel power project in the area ‘in the larger interest of the eco-system and environmental conditions of the Nilgiris’. The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has classified the entire area as one of the highest risk areas for landslides and ‘Geological Surprises’, which could have catastrophic consequences. The site has also been declared earthquake prone. Realty activities have not spared even this sensitive area despite the potential danger to the surroundings and prospective buyers.
No one decries development, including property development. It has been going on for years in this old-world hill station. Plantations, tea gardens and bungalows have regularly changed hands over the years. But these, by and large, were within permissible rules and regulations and with due deference to local culture and traditions.
Permissible rules
What needs to be ensured now is whether the rash of realty activities taking place in and around Kotagiri are within the permissible rules under the Master Plan in force, Hill Area Conservation Authority (HACA) regulations and land use policies recommended by the Geological Survey of India with least disturbance to surrounding natural and cultural traditions.
The recent developments in hill stations like Munnar where a chain of unauthorised structures were pulled down should be kept in mind.
Only an alert public and a concerned district officialdom can save Kotagiri from becoming yet another ‘down hill’ station.
The writer is the founder-coordinator of Save Nilgiris Campaign. E-mail: dvenu@vsnl.net
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