Hue and cry in the hills

Notification of forest area as sanctuary triggers stir in Kodaikanal

Villagers protest at the Dindigul Collectorate demanding withdrawal of the sanctuary proposal recently.- Photo: G. Karthikeyan

For the past few months, agitations have intensified in and around Kodaikanal against an already notified wildlife sanctuary - raising the temperature in the hills.

While environmental activists say that encroachers were instigating villagers and tribals, there are some others who apprehend that access to basic requirement like water in the habitations around the sanctuary could be curtailed in future.

Way back in 1994, the Palni Hills Conservation Council had sent a proposal to the government to declare an area of 1, 046 square km in Kodaikanal as sanctuary. Nearly two decades later, the State government, in its order of September 20, 2013, notified 608.95 square km of forest area as Kodaikanal Wildlife Sanctuary.

Amidst concerns of activists that some of the areas around coffee plantations have been left out, there has been a spate of protests in recent months against the notification.

Demand to withdraw GO

Members of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh have demanded the withdrawal of GO Ms No 143, Environment and Forests, fearing that the proposal will paralyse agricultural activity and evict tribal people from their habitations.

Incidentally, agitations have intensified, mostly in areas that are not under the sanctuary. For example, residents of Pachalur, who are not connected with the sanctuary, staged a demonstration recently. Not just that, villagers near Dindigul, Oddanchatram and Kannivadi forest ranges also are taking to agitation.

“Kodaikanal hill has already lost its pristine beauty and salubrious climate owing to felling of trees and development of uni-crop,” says Palni Hills Conservation Council secretary N. Arun Shankar. Barking deer, otter and horn bills that were sighted in Pullaveli five years ago are missing now.

“The agitations are to help encroachers, most of who are in the plains,” cautions S. Jayachandran, secretary of Tamil Nadu Green Movement. Revenue and forest officials should jointly survey the forest land and reserve forests in Kodaikanal to retrieve encroached areas, he insists.

Environmentalists are worried that false propaganda has confused people.

DFO clarifies

Kodaikanal District Forest Officer D. Venkatesan clarifies that no village or tribal habitation present in 26 reserve forest zones in Dindigul and one in Theni districts has been notified under the wildlife sanctuary. All villages and habitations, tourist spots and 17 dams in and around Kodaikanal have been excluded. Not a single existing road leading to villages on Kodaikanal hill has been included. Farmers will not be prevented from undertaking any agricultural activity. The question of evacuation will not arise as there is no village or habitation in the sanctuary and there is no mention of evacuation in the government order.