Nod for Wayanad tunnel raises eco concerns

Kozhikode: The decision of state-level expert appraisal committee (SEAC) granting environmental clearance (EC) for the controversial Wayanad tunnel road project, which cuts through ecologically-sensitive areas and is close to Chooralmala and Puthumala's landslide-hit areas, has raised grave ecological concerns. The main concern is whether the remedial measures suggested are adequate to address the potential adverse environmental impact of the project.
While SEAC observed that ‘the tunnel alignment passes through highly-fragile terrain prone to landslides where massive landslides occurred in 2019 and 2024', it approved the project after prescribing 25 conditions to mitigate adverse impacts. It said that the method used for tunnelling should not cause ground vibration along the surface.
But environmentalists said that SEAC should have rejected this project since it was aware of the potential adverse environmental issues. They said SEAC had admitted that ‘the proposed project area falls in an environmentally-fragile region, high landslide hazard zone and ESA villages' and yet it gave clearance by prescribing certain conditions that are insufficient to mitigate the adverse impacts.
For instance, tunnelling through the mountains which are home to the endangered Banasura Laughingthrush (a songbird species with around 1,000 individuals in the world), has raised eyebrows whether the committee fully assessed the long-term ecological impact of the project.
The endangered bird inhabits only the shola forests on the two highest mountain tops of Wayanad, with a total habitat of 50 sq km. While conservationists sought a special protected area in the high-altitude habitat to save these birds from extinction, SEAC approved the project, prescribing that experts should conduct detailed monitoring on the small population of Banasura Laughingthrush in the sky islands above the proposed tunnel. This should focus on the genetic vulnerability of the species due to any disturbances caused by the tunnel, it said.
"SEAC granting EC is like awarding the death sentence and then justifying it. SEAC's proceedings show it had decided beforehand to approve the govt's pet project and it did so with certain conditions. The approval does not mention an independent study and it seems SEAC based its decision mainly on reports produced by the project proponent and consultant. There is also no mention of a monitoring mechanism, including experts, to ensure the conditions are implemented," said president of Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samiti (WPSS) N Badusha.
SEAC found that the area is home to endangered bird species like the Nilgiri Sholakili, five bird species classified as threatened by the IUCN Red List and three vulnerable species. Additionally, it is home to 14 species endemic to Western Ghats, with 29 species listed under Schedule-I and 155 species under Schedule-II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
"Banasura Laughingthrush lives in one of the most-threatened habitats as human activities are fragmenting patches of shola forests and causing a host of anthropogenic pressures. Opening up these areas via roads will have a long-term effect on the bird and its habitat," said ornithologist CK Vishnudas.
EAC found that there could be aggressive man-animal conflicts due to four tribal colonies located 500m to 1.5km from the proposed tunnel road on the northern side. SEAC recommended widening the bottleneck along the elephant corridor at Appankappu, 18.6km from the tunnel, by acquiring six plots of land to create a 1km-wide corridor. WPSS said that it will legally challenge SEAC nod. Badusha said SEAC's tried to overlook grave environmental impacts by listing some conditions that can be circumvented easily. "Experts should do a proper study into environmental concerns and authorities should take the final decision only after that. Permitting large-scale tunnel boring in such a fragile landscape is absurd," he added.