Karnataka CM meets Union Min Bhupender Yadav, seeks NBWL nod for Sharavathi, Mekedatu projects
New Delhi/Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday urged Union Environment, Forest, and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav to expedite approval from the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) for the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project and the Mekedatu balancing reservoir and drinking water project.
During a meeting with Yadav at Paryavaran Bhawan in the national capital, Shivakumar also urged the Centre not to finalise the seventh draft notification on declaring the Western Ghats an Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) based on the Kasturirangan report until the physical survey was completed.
He said that the proposal for the Sharavathi Pumped Storage Project was last discussed at the 89th meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife on February 28 this year.
The technical committee had asked the state government or the user agency to clarify issues raised during the examination of the proposal and submit a technical report from the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru.
The Karnataka government has since submitted the required documents, including the NIAS technical report, and provided appropriate responses to the questions raised by the Standing Committee, he said.
Regarding the Mekedatu project, Shivakumar said a proposal seeking permission to drill 20 boreholes for geotechnical investigations within the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary had been submitted to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on July 1, for consideration by the NBWL Standing Committee.
The proposed investigation would cover a total area of 0.0000352 hectares within the sanctuary.
The Ministry had recently sought essential documents and information in connection with the status of various petitions pending before the Supreme Court of India concerning the project. The state government would submit the required information shortly, he said.
Shivakumar clarified that the proposal was limited to survey and investigation activities and did not seek diversion of any protected-area land for the project at this stage.
He urged Yadav, as Chairman of the NBWL Standing Committee, to expedite the examination and recommendations on both the Sharavathi and Mekedatu proposals.
On the Kasturirangan report, Shivakumar requested the Union Minister not to finalise the seventh draft notification issued by the Ministry on July 27, for declaring parts of the Western Ghats as an Ecologically Sensitive Area.
He said he had already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 25, requesting that the notification not be finalised until the state government’s High-Level Committee (HLC) submitted its report and a physical survey was completed within one year.
The Chief Minister urged the Centre to undertake further action in consultation with the Karnataka government after the committee’s report was submitted and the physical survey was completed.
Shivakumar also requested the Centre to exclude the Eco Cane Sugar and Energy Ltd. sugar factory in Belagavi from the proposed ecologically sensitive zone.
He said the factory had commenced operations before 2016 and, therefore, should not be brought under the eco-sensitive zone restrictions.
The factory employs around 500 workers, while approximately 5,000 families depend on it for their livelihood, he said, urging the Centre to consider these factors while finalising the notification.