The Kudremukh National Park, covering over 600 sq. km., is a sensitive Western Ghats habitat and the source of the Bhadra, Tunga and Netravati rivers. The effective management and protection of this area is vital given the destruction being wreaked on other Western Ghats' habitats.
KIOCL has been mining for iron ore in the Kudremukh region of Chikmagalur in Karnataka since 1969. The company has been leased 4,605 hectares of land. Actual mining has only taken place on 450 hectares, while 2,672 ha. of forest land have been broken up and destroyed for no reason. The mining area is covered with dense, evergreen forests, typical of the Western Ghats vegetation.
The extension has been granted in the face of the objections of the Chief Wildlife Warden, Mr. S. K. Chakrabarti, who stated in writing that “the continuance of mining activities will be injurious to the existence of wildlife in the National Park". He then recommended the cessation of all mining activities in the park on July 27, the date of expiry of the old lease.
However, when Mr. Nagaraja Shetty, Principal Secretary of the Karnataka Environment Department, forwarded the application to the Environment Ministry, he asked for a two year extension to the lease, saying studies could be conducted by NEERI and WII. The Chief Wildlife Warden's views were ignored. What was included, however, was a KIOCL inducement - Rs. Two crores annually to the park for ten years!
Forests are in the charge of state governments and this has begun to throw up a host of problems in the implementation of central legislation. State officials are invariably under pressure to doctor reports to suit commercial interests.
Even the manner in which KIOCL appealed for an extension of the lease does not conform to legal requirements, as they merely submitted a letter, not the detailed proposal required. The application is to be submitted to the state government one year before the expiry of the old lease, but KIOCL sent its application only a few weeks before the expiry date. The state government also needs to process the application and send it to the Centre six months before the expiry of the lease, but this was done only three weeks before July 27, (intentionally?) leaving no time for a detailed investigation. Any extension of the lease can only be based on a public hearing. Earlier this year, Minister Suresh Prabhu had stated that a public hearing would be held in this case, whether legally required or not. This has not been done.
The extension of the lease sets a potentially harmful precedent for other industries operating in ecologically sensitive areas. KIOCL has an abysmal environmental track record over the last 30 years. Transgressions include illegal felling, road building and drowning over 300 hectares of shola forests by illegally raising the height of the Lakya tailings dam. The company has also been building roads in the Kachigehole valley for a second tailings and water supply dam! The Bhadra has been severely polluted, its banks turned black by the ore and tailings. Very few of the once common otters and mahseer survive today.
The Chief Wildlife Warden S.K. Chakrabarti and Ms. Madhu Sharma, the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Kudremukh Wildlife Division), who issued a notice to KIOCL to suspend mining at the end of the lease period are likely to become the targets of politically well-connected lobbies. Public support for these two courageous individuals is extremely important at this juncture.
Please write polite letters asking that KIOCL be denied permission to mine in Kudremukh in the interests of wildlife conservation to:
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Hon. Min. of Environment and Forests, Paryavaran Bhavan, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003.
Letters of support should be written to:
Chief Wildlife Warden,
 S.K. Chakrabarti,
Aranya Bhavan, 2nd Floor, 18th Cross, Malleswaram, Bangalore 560003.
K. R. Sethna provided Sanctuary with the information for this campaign. Readers who would like more information on Kudremukh should write directly to him at:
Yellikodogi Estate, Aldur P.O. 577111, Chikmagalur District, Karnataka.
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