The Athirappilly hydroelectric project, proposed across the Chalakudy river, would not be an economically and environmentally justifiable project, ecologist Madhav Gadgil has said.
Speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a meeting here on Monday, Mr. Gadgil, who headed the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel, said the Kerala State Electricity Board authorities could not answer the criticism against the project. Though the River Research Centre had argued that the board had fudged the data on the availability of water and power that could be generated from the project, the board did not respond to it. Though its officials were asked to respond to the data produced by the centre, they could not rebut it, he said.
In 2010 when the panel members visited the area, it was found that the Athirappilly project was not a defensible project. There is no reason to believe that the situation has changed after that, he said.
Tribal rights
Regarding the forest rights of the Kadar tribe in the Chalakudy area, Mr. Gadgil said the State government should honour the constitutional rights of the tribe. The forest rights of the tribal have not been implemented till now and no government shall violate their rights, he said.
On the decision of the State government to limit the ecological sensitive areas in the Western Ghats to protected areas and reserve forest, Mr. Gadgil said these areas were already under some form of legal protection.
Earlier, delivering a lecture at the School of Legal Studies, he said the reluctance of the authorities to send the Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Relief and Compensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill passed by the Assembly in 2011 for presidential assent amounted to sabotaging the rule of law and democratic devolution of law.
