SHIVAMOGGA: The Forest Department has cut 9,000 trees for digging a link canal from Tunga river to Bhadra reservoir under package-I of Upper Bhadra Project (UBP). Greens allege officials have also started cutting another 7,000 trees for the project.
While the department has claimed that 16,000 trees will be cut, environmental activists said over 25,000 trees will be axed in Muttinakoppa minor forest and Aramballi forest in Koppa division. The canals traverse through the eco-sensitive zone of Bhadra Tiger Reserve but are outside the core and buffer zone. The forest is home to a fairly intact fauna, typical of Western Ghats such as tiger, leopard, elephant and several ungulates.
As pressure is mounting on the government to complete the major irrigation project, the work is being put on fasttrack. The project is taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 12,340 crore to irrigate drought-prone districts of Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Tumakuru and Davanagere and fill up 367 tanks coming under drought-prone taluks of the three districts through Chitradurga branch and Tumakuru branch canals.
The project envisages lifting up to 17.4 tmcft of water from foreshore of Upper Tunga reservoir to Bhadra reservoir from June to October. And in the next phase, lifting of 29.90 tmcft of water from Bhadra reservoir to delivery chamber near proposed tunnel near Ajjampura. The department has begun the cutting of trees near Sathkoli village in NR Pura taluk of Chikkamagaluru district. Range forest officer Ranganath told TNIE that so far 9,000 trees have been cut and the remaining 7,000 are being cut in the 7.5-km stretch.
“We have reduced the number of trees to be axed significantly. To compensate the loss, afforestation will be done in an alternative place which is yet to be identified. Though the canals will pass through forest, bridges will be constructed to ensure that the movement of animals is not affected,” he said. The RFO said a tunnel measuring over 700 metres will also be constructed in the forest, so that the movement of the animal is not obstructed.
Environmental activist Ajay Kumar Sharma said the number of trees being axed is not 16,000 but five times more than the estimated. “The department counts only big trees. If small trees are considered, the
number will reach nearly one lakh,” he said.