Centre red-flags forest law violations in Yettinahole drinking water project

The Hindu

27-04-2025

The Regional Office of the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Bengaluru, has flagged serious violations, unauthorised forest land use, and environmental mismanagement by the State government with regard to the implementation of the Yettinahole drinking water project.
A site inspection conducted early this month, from April 7 to April 9, by the Deputy Inspector General of Forests (DIGF) Praneetha Paul revealed that out of 173.3 hectares, nearly 430 acres, of forest land 'proposed' for diversion, a staggering 107.97 hectares in the Hassan Division have already been used without mandatory clearances, which is in blatant violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
The wild animals that are found in the forests include leopards, sloth bears, wild boars, spotted deer, foxes, hares, peacocks, etc, in Tumakuru and Hassan, which also has a movement of elephants. The project entails felling of 7,554 trees of 27 species in the Tumakuru division and 1,439 trees of 48 species in the Hassan division.
The DIGF report has expressed concern that the project can severely affect the movement of wildlife, especially elephants, in Hassan.
As there is no proposal to fence the canal, it could result in the death of wildlife, noted the report, and suggested fencing of both sides of the canal and the construction of crossovers at regular intervals. It also emphasised the preparation of a wildlife mitigation plan in consultation with scientists.
The DIGF stated that the environmental clearance under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, has not been obtained nor the cost-benefit ratio has been calculated for the project. This apart, it stated that the project implementing agency, Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Limited, has stared the construction of the canal before obtaining necessary clearances.
Shockingly, officials noted that the project had already defaulted on compliance conditions linked to an earlier diversion of 13.93 hectares in Sakleshpur taluk and had not taken any corrective actions, thus compounding the severity of the current violations.
The report stated that the updated information on the cumulative ecological impacts of the project on the Western Ghats was not in place. Besides, other compliances of the monitoring committee constituted by the National Greens Tribunal and its directions dated June 23, 2023, had not been fulfilled.
The project's alignment planning also came under flak as cost-cutting was prioritised over environmental safeguards, and out of 173.3078 hectares of forest land sought to be diverted, a total of 103.53 hectares is for dumping of muck generated during construction activity, as per the report.
'More than 60% of the forest sought to be diverted is to be used for dumping muck, which is a non-site specific activity,' the report pointed out, and called for revision of the project proposal to ensure that muck generated in the areas is disposed of outside the forest areas.
Deputy Director General of Forests (DDGF) S. Senthil Kumar, in his recommendations, has red-flagged the concerns and pointed out that though forest diversion has been sought for project implementation, a majority of it is for muck disposal despite more than 2,000 hectares of non-forest land being available for the project.
The DDGF also said that the project could be considered only after all the objections are addressed and clarifications submitted for issues raised by the DIGF.