137.5 acres of forest land to be diverted for Mysuru-Kushalnagar highway project
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has sought the diversion of 137.5 acres of forest for the Mysuru-Kushalnagar highway, which is being taken up at a cost of nearly ₹3,800 crore.
While the NHAI has been directed to take up compensatory afforestation to the extent of the forest loss, activists are peeved that the land proposed for it is in Vijayapura district.
The project also entails felling 691 trees, of which 571 have been marked in the Hunsur division and 120 in the Cauvery block notified forest area under the administration of Nagarahole Tiger Reserve. However, the latter is neither included in the Nagarahole Core nor the Buffer area.
The project is to widen NH-275 from Mysuru to Kushalnagar from two lanes to six lanes with paved shoulders, and the diversion of forest land will be in Hunsur and Periyapatna taluks of the district.
The total land required for the project is 577.41 hectares or nearly 1,427 acres, of which non-forest land is 521.78 hectares and forest land is 55.63 hectares.
The NHAI has been asked to take up compensatory afforestation for tree felling in Hunsur and Periyapatna, at Bhutanala village in the Vijayapura district. This has raised hassles in conservation circles, and Giridhar Kulkarni, a wildlife conservationist, has written to the forest authorities questioning the logic behind compensatory afforestation in an area far away from the project-affected place.
He pointed out that the compensatory afforestation has to be done in lieu of the diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. This is normally done over an equivalent area of non-forest land in the same district where the forest diversion is sought.
But in many cases, compensatory afforestation lands are proposed in other districts instead of the same district where the forest diversion is sought, as in the case of the present project, and it defeats the purpose, he said.
'It is beyond imagination how compensatory afforestation proposed in Vijayapura district is going to compensate for forest loss at Hunsur in Mysuru district,' said Mr. Kulkarni.
'It is critical that the resulting tree loss in Hunsur and Periyapatna is compensated within the same or nearby regions, as planting trees elsewhere does not address the immediate ecological and climatic disruptions caused locally,' he added.
With reference to Hunsur, he pointed out that human-wildlife conflict was high and was occurring on a regular basis, and therefore it made sense to procure private land close to areas of conflict prone regions and take up compensatory afforestation, the cost of which will be met by the NHAI.
In his letter to the authorities, Mr. Kulkarni urged the Forest Department to plan the compensatory afforestation scheme strategically to strengthen and widen wildlife corridors, particularly in regions prone to human-wildlife conflict, as in Hunsur and surrounding areas. This, Mr. Kulkarni said, would help restore ecological connectivity, enable safe movement of animals between habitats, thereby reducing encounters with human settlements.
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