The project involved the expansion of National Highway 169A between Thirthahalli and Megaravalli.
Representational image
Active intervention by a group of environmentalists saved over one hundred trees in Karnataka’s Shivamogga district. The trees, most of which are decades old, were set to be axed for the highway expansion on a 13 km stretch of National Highway 169A between Thirthahalli and Megaravalli. In a survey conducted by all the stakeholders of the stretch — which includes the National Highways Authority of India, the state forest department, environmentalists and locals — on Wednesday, environmentalists and forest department officials convinced officials of the NHAI to change the alignment of the highway. The new alignment will now involve felling of 93 trees, as opposed to felling 256 trees. The survey was initiated after environmentalists objected to the initially proposed felling of 337 trees in the public consultation meeting held on March 11. United Conservation Movement, a collective working to protect the Western Ghats from further destruction following the devastating floods in Kodagu in August 2018, objected to the expansion. “We were successful in making the NHAI realise that a 16-metre wide road in sensitive areas of the Western Ghats is not possible as the trees marked for cutting were more than 100 years old and the survival of these trees is the need of the hour,” said Ajay Kumar Sharma, a chartered engineer and a member of United Conservation Movement. “The NHAI had planned 10-metre asphalt road with provisions for road shoulder and drainage and electric poles on each side measuring three meters, and the total width of the road coming to 16 meters. We saved a majority of the trees by requesting for a realignment of the road at several places, and in most places, the total width of the road was reduced. We asked NHAI to maintain the 10-metre and reduce the width of the road on either side in the best interest of the environment,” he added. While Wednesday’s development was a victory, repair work is also being undertaken on a different stretch of the same highway near Agumbe Ghat, on the border of Shivamogga and Udupi districts, is in contravention of norms. United Conservation Movement is now petitioning Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Chief Secretary TM Vijaya Bhaskar and the Forest Department chief to intervene. Nithin Herald, an activist who was also present during Wednesday’s proceedings, said, “Hundreds of square feet of forest land is getting swallowed due to the unofficial widening of the road, which is taking place in the name of road repair. This road work is impacting the Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The work is in contravention of The Wildlife (Protection) Act, Environment (Protection) Act and UNESCO World Heritage Site guidelines.” “Any more widening of roads will seriously impact the fragile ecosystem of this land. It is already prone to landslides, and further felling of trees will trigger landslides. The Wildlife Act clearly states that in forest areas, they cannot alter any road infrastructure without the clearance of the National Wildlife Board,” he added. Activists say that if the current repair work is allowed to continue, it will force king cobras, which are common in the area, to move into nearby which could lead to an increase in man-animal conflicts. The region is also home to tigers, lion-tailed macaques along with 300 more globally threatened animal species.
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