The Western Ghats and their fringes will be shorn of more than 6,300 trees as Karnataka are set to start the controversial Yettinahole project to provide drinking water to the state's arid southern districts. The green toll reads like this: 6,327 trees, including 1,332 bamboo stalks.
On September 15, the forest & environment ministry gave the green signal for diversion of 13.93 hectares of forest land abutting the Ghats.
The project seeks to supply drinking water from Yettinahole -a tributary of the Netravati river -to drought prone areas of Bengaluru Rural, Devanahalli Industrial Area, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara and parts of Hassan district.
The government's move has further angered green activists and the people of Dakshina Kannada district who have been opposing the project. The ministry approval will pave the way for razing 4,995 trees in ten reserved and deemed forest locations in Hassan district's Sakaleshpur taluk.
The state government, in an order issued a fortnight ago, has imposed 53 conditions on the axing of trees. TOI has a copy of the order. The trees will be chopped by Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd, the nodal agency for implementation of the Yettinahole project, under the supervision of the forest department.Timber would be transported to the forest department depot.
Ananth Hegde Ashisar, former chairman of Western Ghats Task Force and a critic of the project, said: "It's nothing but the destruction of biodiversity.The government might claim only 5,000 trees will be cut, but it's wrong. Lakhs of medicinal and other plants will face collateral damage. The project is impractical. It has been mooted by a contractor-politician-bureaucrat nexus."
Law minister TB Jayachandra defended the move: "Trees will be cut as the project is about supplying drinking water to parched areas." Moreover, the government will take steps to plant more saplings to compensate the loss. The government order says Neeravari Nigam must plant a minimum of 10,000 saplings of species that help the bird and bee population along the pipeline and the service road.
A compensatory afforestation shall be raised over 13.93 hectares at Varavukaval village in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district. A forest official ruled out reckless tree-chopping as officials are answerable to the environment ministry and face the risk of a court rap. Warning forest officials against lapses in the chopping exercise, the government has directed the authorities to number the trees and maintain a registry of chopped ones.
On September 15, the forest & environment ministry gave the green signal for diversion of 13.93 hectares of forest land abutting the Ghats.
The project seeks to supply drinking water from Yettinahole -a tributary of the Netravati river -to drought prone areas of Bengaluru Rural, Devanahalli Industrial Area, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Ramanagara and parts of Hassan district.
The government's move has further angered green activists and the people of Dakshina Kannada district who have been opposing the project. The ministry approval will pave the way for razing 4,995 trees in ten reserved and deemed forest locations in Hassan district's Sakaleshpur taluk.
The state government, in an order issued a fortnight ago, has imposed 53 conditions on the axing of trees. TOI has a copy of the order. The trees will be chopped by Karnataka Neeravari Nigam Ltd, the nodal agency for implementation of the Yettinahole project, under the supervision of the forest department.Timber would be transported to the forest department depot.
Ananth Hegde Ashisar, former chairman of Western Ghats Task Force and a critic of the project, said: "It's nothing but the destruction of biodiversity.The government might claim only 5,000 trees will be cut, but it's wrong. Lakhs of medicinal and other plants will face collateral damage. The project is impractical. It has been mooted by a contractor-politician-bureaucrat nexus."
Law minister TB Jayachandra defended the move: "Trees will be cut as the project is about supplying drinking water to parched areas." Moreover, the government will take steps to plant more saplings to compensate the loss. The government order says Neeravari Nigam must plant a minimum of 10,000 saplings of species that help the bird and bee population along the pipeline and the service road.
A compensatory afforestation shall be raised over 13.93 hectares at Varavukaval village in Challakere taluk of Chitradurga district. A forest official ruled out reckless tree-chopping as officials are answerable to the environment ministry and face the risk of a court rap. Warning forest officials against lapses in the chopping exercise, the government has directed the authorities to number the trees and maintain a registry of chopped ones.