Private investors have invaded the Western Ghats: Nagesh Hegde

Karnataka has the largest chunk of the Western Ghats; its people deserve to understand their role in preserving this ecosystem, says Hegde.

Nagesh Hegde, photographed in Bengaluru on October 31, 2017. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K/THE HINDU

Nagesh Hegde was an assistant editor with Prajavani, a leading Kannada daily, and is a widely respected writer on environmental issues over the past four decades. He is an expert on the Western Ghats and has written extensively on a variety of issues pertaining to this hill range.

In the wake of the landslide in Wayanad, serious questions have been raised on the situation in Karnataka as well. Since the monsoon began in Karnataka almost 50 landslides have taken place in the State with the most serious one in Shirur in Uttara Kannada district where 11 people were washed away. According to official data, Karnataka reported 1,495 incidents of landslides between 2006 and 2023 with the loss of 81 lives. Why are regions of Karnataka along the Western Ghats prone to landslides?

Hill ranges of both the Himalayas and the Western Ghats are highly fragile for different reasons: the Himalayan ranges are geologically quite young (about 45-50 million years) and they are still growing. The Western Ghats are three times older. Both the toddler and the grandpa are prone to fall, right? The landmass along the Western Ghats has developed deep cracks and fissures ever since it broke away from Antarctica and Africa and got pushed along with the rest of the Indian subcontinent, bruised and battered. These tall mountains were further subjected to wear and tear (what is known as “weathering” in geological terms) due to the pressure of gushing winds and heavy rainfall resulting in deep gorges and precariously hanging mountains. Climate change in recent years has resulted in the warming of the Arabian Sea and as a result, the frequency and intensity of cloud burst events have increased.     

While natural reasons such as excessive rainfall in a particular year exacerbate the chances of landslides, to what extent does unscientific development (which may or may not be sanctioned by the government) enhance the risk?

Sensitive issues should be handled sensibly, right? In the name of development, this region has been subjected to an endless onslaught by modern tools such as electric saws, dynamites and bulldosers. It had been virtually carpet-bombed at the ground level. Until 1980, a series of large dams in deep valleys were built across the Kali and Sharavati rivers. Large-scale mining of iron and manganese ores was permitted. Native plant species were decimated for raising monoculture plantations of eucalyptus and acacia. Those were the days of ecological innocence. The intensity of large-scale destruction was reduced because of a series of protests by people. An 800 km long march to “Save Western Ghats” was organised in 1987. Legal struggles ensured that the hilltop mining at Kudremukh (in Chikkamaggaluru district) was banned by the order of the Supreme Court.

However, low intensity destruction in the name of tourism continues unabated. Bulldozers continued to operate unhindered. While the government “machineries” were in full swing to build power grids, tunnels and bridges for highways and railways, private investors invaded the Western Ghats to modify the landscape for large plantations, luxury villas, boating reservoirs and resorts. The onslaught continues unabated, legally and otherwise, and this has enhanced the risk considerably.     

On August 2, Forest Minister Eshwar B. Khandre directed the Karnataka Forest Department to recover encroached land taken over by plantations, homestays and resorts after 2015. How do you see this decision?

It was a knee-jerk reaction by the Forest Minister. All encroachers are powerful, all of them have political links and know how to keep the bureaucracy at bay. We can very well predict the result of such whip-cracking. In Kannada, there is a proverb about toppling a mountain to catch a mole. Certainly, the Minister can do nothing about the ecocidal activities initiated by the government.    

After the disastrous landslides in Wayanad, ecologist Madhav Gadgil termed it as a “man-made” tragedy and blamed Kerala for ignoring the recommendations of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel. In Karnataka too, successive governments have ignored the recommendations of the Gadgil Panel as well as those of its successor, the K. Kasturirangan Committee, which diluted many of the recommendations of the Gadgil Panel. Clearly, the political leadership is wary of the residents’ opposition to any such move as it would impede developmental projects. Is there a way out of this impasse?

The opposition to the Gadgil report was deliberately crafted by vested interest groups, mostly by the contractors who wanted to continue the extraction of sand, granite, and timber from the forest areas. There was no discussion with the local people, nor was there any referendum about the report. The WGEEP specifically recommended that the report be translated into local language and discussed threadbare at the panchayat level. No such initiative was taken by Karnataka government.

The report was unanimously rejected in the legislature as if every member had gone through the English version. A fearful myth was created to show that the future of the local people would be doomed if the report was implemented. Forest dwellers were frightened that their property would be snatched away and that all the roads and bridges would be decommissioned. Politicians from the panchayat level to the Parliament have been reiterating this “story” because it serves them well. The report is actually not draconian. It prohibits large dams, large-scale mining, large buildings, and certain hazardous activities, that too only in the ESA. It actually promotes sustainable developmental activities suited to local situations. The only way out of this impasse is to demystify the report.

The State government should constitute a five-member panel consisting of an ecologist, a politician, a professor of repute, an environmental activist and a journalist mandating it to bring out the Kannada version of this report in an accessibly style. The State government should ensure its release in all the taluk headquarters in the 10 districts [of Karnataka that lie in the Western Ghats]. Visual and audio versions of the report can follow later facilitating a proper debate. Since Karnataka has the largest chunk of the Western Ghats, its people deserve to understand their role in preserving this valuable ecosystem for posterity.