Kerala asks Centre to clear controversial power project

Wednesday, August 13 1997

Kerala asks Centre to clear controversial power project

Damandeep Singh

NEW DELHI, Aug 12: Five years after the Union Environment Ministry rejected the Kerala government's plea for clearance of the Pooyamkutty hydro-electric power plant, the state has put up the project again for clearance.

Sources said the government had rejected the proposal after an expert committee said that the loss of bio-diversity would be irreplaceable. The project would have drowned 3,000 hectares of lush green forests.

Even though the state government had promised to afforest an equivalent amount, experts felt that the adverse ecological impact on the region's flora and fauna was irreversible.

This project has been hanging fire for over five years now, with it having been rejected in 1992, and later in 1994. With the state putting up the project again, the ministry has advised it to carry out a detailed a environment impact assessment study, a social impact assessment and a cost-benefit analysis.

The 240-megawatt project was resubmitted two years ago and now the ministry has decided to give it another look. It has already obtained technical as well as economic clearance from the Central Electricity Authority.

The Kerala government's main argument is that hydel power, being the cheapest and the least polluting, was necessary for the power-starved state. They further pleaded that Kerala's rich forest resources should not be allowed to come in the way of its development.

A four-member environment appraisal committee, which had toured the Idukki district in 1994 to study the possible impact of the hydro project on the ecology of the region, had concluded that the project would have grave consequences for the environment.

Experts who have examined the project earlier said this region's ecology was similar to that of the Silent Valley and was thus invaluable. While there would be undoubted gains from the power generated, the loss to bio-diversity would be incalculable as it cannot be replaced, environmentalist Gautam Vohra had noted in his report to the ministry.