Centre writes to Additional Chief Secretary asking Kerala to allow tree-felling, ghat road repair
A consensus on granting permission to Tamil Nadu to fell trees downstream of the Mullaperiyar baby dam was reached at two meetings held by the Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources Department, on September 15 and 17, says Bennichen Thomas, Kerala Chief Wildlife Warden, in an explanation submitted to the Government for issuing an order to this effect on November 5.
The order has since been put on hold.
In his detailed report, a copy of which is available with The Hindu, Mr. Thomas said that the first meeting was held in the office of the Additional Chief Secretary and was attended by the Principal Secretary (Forest and Wildlife), the Chief Wildlife Warden [himself] and Field Director (Project Tiger), Kottayam, while the second was the inter-State Secretary-level meeting chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary.
Mr. Thomas said Tamil Nadu’s Executive Engineer, Water Resources Department, Cumbum, had submitted proposals in 2015 for soiling and tarring of the 5-km ghat road from Mullaperiyar dam to Vallakadavu approach road and for removing 23 trees along with shrubs and bushes downstream of the baby dam. Both proposals were returned by Deputy Director, Periyar East Division, citing shortcomings following which fresh proposals were submitted.
The proposal for repairing the ghat road, which falls outside the leased area of Mullaperiyar dam, was forwarded by Mr. Thomas with his remarks to the State Government on August 25 “for the consideration of State Board for Wildlife.” Neither the Deputy Director, Periyar East Division, nor the Chief Wildlife Warden recommended the proposal.
Explaining his reasons for issuing the November 5 order allowing Tamil Nadu to cut down 15 trees as against 23 sought by Tamil Nadu, Mr. Thomas cited the Supreme Court judgments of 2006 and 2014 which restrained the State of Kerala and and its officers from causing any objection to dam strengthening.
He cited the ‘consensus’ arrived at in the two high-level meetings and said that the “Forest Department is not fully aware of the cases [presently going on in the Supreme Court] as the department is not a respondent and that the Mullaperiyar agreement is between the Irrigation Department and Tamil Nadu.”
He said the Additional Chief Secretary, Water Resources, phoned him on October 26 and requested to “expedite the issuance of the cutting permission for the trees if it can be legally allowed” (sic). At a meeting also attended by the Principal Secretary (Forest and Wildlife), the Additional Chief Secretary repeated the request to grant “the felling permissions without any more delay, so that the present case in the Hon’ble Supreme Court could be defended properly.”
Mr. Thomas said that while the Periyar Lake lease deed allowed Tamil Nadu to fell trees, underwood and saplings within the lease areas for maintenance works, permission for soiling and tarring of the road “requires Forest Conservation Act clearance and wildlife clearances” as it was outside the lease area. Only after receipt of these permissions would Tamil Nadu be able to transport material to the dam site for strengthening work, he said.
Meanwhile, Forest Minister A.K. Saseendran said Mullaperiyar was an inter-State water issue in which the Forest Department hardly had any say. “Only the question of tree felling was considered by the Forest Department,” he said, adding that a committee led by the Chief Secretary and the Chief Minister would now review the development.
Amidst this, T.K. Jose, Additional Chief Secretary (Water Resources), received a letter from the Union Department of Water Resources on November 8 requesting the Kerala Government “to allow the necessary strengthening works of the dam (baby dam and earthen dam) as well as repair works to the approach ghat road….”
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