Save Silent Valley

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Evergreen Forest at Sairandhri

Kuntipuzha River in Silent Valley near Sairandhri

Save Silent Valley is an Indian Social Movement started in 1973 to save the Silent Valley Reserve Forest in Palakkad District, Kerala, South India from being flooded by a hydroelectric project. The valley was declared as Silent Valley National Park in 1985 but the contraversy still continues in 2007.

[edit] Background

Pothundi dam is one of six dams already in Palakkad District.^[1], ^[2]
It is 15 km southwest from Silent Valley

In 1928 the location at Sairandhri on the Kunthipuzha River was identified as an ideal site for electricity generation. In 1958 a study and survey of the area was conducted and a hydroelectric project of 120 MV costing Rs. 17 Crore was proposed by the Kerala State Electricity Board.

In 1973 the Kerala State Electricity Board decided to implement the Silent Valley Hydro-Electric Project (SVHEP) centered on a dam across the Kunthipuzha River. The resulting reservoir would flood 8.3 km² of virgin rainforest. The National Committee on Environmental Planning and Co-ordination (NCEPC) studied the proposal for the hydro project and suggested 17 safeguards to be implemented in case the project continued. Though a shortage of funds delayed activity, from 1974 to 1975 a large number of big trees in the area were cut down. In 1976 the Kerala State Electricity Board announced plans to begin dam construction.

[edit] Beginnings

Silent Valley is home to the largest population of Lion-tailed Macaque. They are among the World's rarest and most threatened primates

After the announcement of imminent dam construction the valley became the focal point of "Save Silent Valley", India's fiercest environmental debate of the decade. Because of concern about the endangered lion-tailed macaque, the issue was brought to public attention. Romulus Whitaker, founder of the Madras Snake Park and the Madras Crocodile Bank, was probably the first person to draw public attention to the small and remote area.^[3] In 1977 the Kerala Forest Research Institute carried out an Ecological Impact study of the Silent Valley area and proposed that the area be declared a Biosphere Reserve.

In 1978 Smt. Indira Gandhi, the Honorable Prime Minister of India, approved the project, with the condition that the State Government enact Legislation ensuring the necessary safeguards. Also that year the IUCN (Ashkhabad, USSR, 1978) passed a Resolution recommending protection of Lion-tailed Macaques in Silent Valley and Kalakkad and the controversy heated up. In 1979 the Government of Kerala passed Legislation regarding the Silent Valley Protection Area (Protection of Ecological balance Act of 1979) and issued a notification declaring the exclusion of the Hydroelectric Project Area from the proposed National Park.

[edit] Participants

Listen:(8:46) to
Dr. M. S. Swaminathan speaking on Sustainable Development, p.83
August 27, 2002

Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishath (KSSP) effectively aroused public opinion on the need to save Silent Valley and published a Techno-economic and Socio-Political assessment report on the Silent Valley Hydroelectric project. The poet activist Sugathakumari played a big role in the silent valley protest. Dr. Salim Ali, eminent ornithologist of the Bombay Natural History Society, visited the Valley and appealed for cancellation of the Hydroelectric Project.^[4] A petition of writ was filed before the High Court of Kerala, against the clear cutting of forests in the Hydroelectric Project area and the court ordered a stop to the clear cutting.

Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the renowned Agricultural Scientist, and then Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, visited the Silent Valley area and suggested that 389.52 km² including the Silent Valley (89.52 km²), New Amarambalam (80 km²), Attappadi (120 km²) in Kerala and Kunda in Tamilnadu (100 km²) reserve forests, should be developed into a National Rainforest Biosphere Reserve, with the aim of "preventing erosion of valuable genes from the area".^[5]

In January 1980 the Hon. High Court of Kerala lifted the ban on clear cutting, but then the Hon. Prime Minister of India requested the Government of Kerala to stop further works in the project area until all aspects were fully discussed. In December, the Government of Kelala declared the Silent Valley area, excluding the Hydroelectric Project area, as a National Park.

In 1982 a multidisciplinary committee with Prof. M. G. K. Menon as chairman, was created to decide if the Hydroelectric Project was feasible without any significant ecological damage. Early in 1983, Prof. Menon's Committee submitted its report. After a careful study of the Menon report, the Hon. Prime Minister of India decided to abandon the Project. On October 31, 1984 Indira Gandhi was assassinated and on November 15 the Silent Valley forests were declared as a National Park, though the boundaries of the Silent Valley Park were limited and no buffer zone was created, despite recommendations by expert committees and scientists.

[edit] Park inaugurated

Silent Valley National Park
Topography 1:250,000., 1959

Ten months later, on September 7, 1985 the Silent Valley National Park was formally inaugurated and a memorial at Sairandhri to Indira Gandhi was unveiled by Shri. Rajiv Gandhi, the new Hon. Prime Minister of India. On September 1, 1986 Silent Valley National Park was designated as the core area of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve.

Since then, a long-term conservation effort has been undertaken to preserve the Silent Valley ecosystem.^[6]

[edit] A New Dam proposal

In 2001 a new Hydro project was proposed and the "Man vs. Monkey debate" was revived. The proposed site of the dam (64.5 m high and 275 m long) is just 3.5 km downstream of the old dam site at Sairandhiri, 500 m outside the National Park boundary.^[7]. The 84 km² catchment of the project area included 79 km² of the Silent Valley National Park.

The Kerala Minister for Electricity called The Pathrakkadavu dam (PHEP) an "eco-friendly alternative" to the old Silent Valley project. The PHEP was designed as a run-off-the-river project with an installed capacity of 70 MW in the first phase (105 MW eventually) and an energy generation of 214 million units (Mu) with a minimal gross storage of 0.872 million cubic metres. The claim was that the submergence area of the PHEP would be a negligible .041 km² compared to 8.30 km² submergence of the 1970s (SVHEP).^[8]. However, The spectacular waterfall between the Neelikkal and Pathrakkadavu hills bordering the Silent Valley will disappear if the proposed Pathrakkadavu hydro-electric project is implemented.^[9] - Image

During January to May 2003 a rapid Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was carried out during by the Thiruvananthapuram-based Environmental Resources Research Centre and its report was released in December, stating that forest lost due to the project would be just .2216 km², not including the 7.4 km approach road and land to be acquired for the powerhouse in Karapadam.

[edit] Present status - News

• Little more was heard till Nov. 15, 2006 when Kerala Minister for Forest Binoy Viswam said that the proposed buffer zone for Silent Valley would be declared soon.^[10].
• On Feb 21, 2007 Chief Minister A. K. Antony told reporters after a cabinet meeting that "when the Silent Valley proposal was dropped, the centre had promised to give clearance to the Pooyamkutty project. This promise, however, had not been honoured. The Kerala government has not taken any decision on reviving the Silent Valley Hydel Project".^[11]
• On Mar 22, 2007 the activist poet Sugathakumari appealed to the Chief Minister of Kerala to restrain the Electricity Minister from reviving the proposal for a hydroelectric project at Pathrakkadavu.^[12]

[edit] The Movie

"Only An Axe Away" is a well-researched film documentary on the struggle to preserve the Silent Valley. The film shares the anxiety of the people of Kerala about the future of the Silent Valley. Producer: Third Eye Communications, Director: P. Baburaj and C. Saratchandran, Malayalam/40min/2004/DV.^[13]

[edit] References