The newly enacted Dam Safety Act 2021 may restrict the role of the Forest department in conserving flora and fauna in protected areas and reserve forests of the State as these areas have been brought under the control of the dam safety committees.
The Act, which has empowered the national and the State-level dam safety committees to take care of the reservoirs, and their rim and the catchment areas, may impede the mandate of the Forest department as the core and buffer areas of all the wildlife sanctuaries and national parks of the State are located in the catchment areas of one dam or other, pointed out senior forest officials.
The core area of Periyar Tiger Reserve falls within the catchment of the Mullaperiyar dam. Its also the case with the Idukki Wildlife Sanctuary. The Parambikulam Tiger Reserve is located within the catchment area of the Parambikulam dam. The core and buffer areas of Neyyar wildlife sanctuary comes within the catchment area of the Neyyar dam.
The biodiversity-rich areas of Shiruvani, Thattekad, Kundala, Mattupetty, Shenthurini, Malampuzha, Peppara, Peechi, Chimmini and Vazhani too come under the catchment areas of major dams. The dams at Sholayar and Peringalkutthu are located inside the reserve forest of the Vazhachal Forest Division.
Wetland birds, aquatic fauna
A host of activities, including wildlife survey, trenching and felling of trees for creating camp facilities for forest guards, controlled burning in grasslands, clearing of undergrowth and removal of invasive species like Wattle, Lantana and Acacia could be affected. The reservoirs are home to wetland birds and aquatic fauna, which may also go out of the control of the department. Since there are no representatives of the Forest departments in the committees, the future activities of the department may get affected. Plantation activities in these areas may also be hit.
There are two privately owned dams in the Ranni forest area where the permission of the owners may be required for such activities, said the official on condition of anonymity. The committees have been made responsible to prevent dam failure-related disasters, which could hit the life and property of the people and the environment including flora, fauna and riverine ecology. The dam owners will also have to compile the technical documentation on all resources or facilities of economic, logistic or environmental importance in the catchment and reservoirs, which could be affected by a dam failure. The Act, which has taken a serious note of the dam safety aspects, failed to recognise the role of Forest departments in the conservation and protection activities, rued the officials.
