The
"Silent Valley" issue has been a controversy, one which involved not
only a clash of perspectives on development but a dispute even on
verifiable data. While ecology enthusiasts would permit nothing which
might violate Silent Valley's virginity, others argued that the safest
way to prevent further denudation was to have a hydel power project in its heart. Scientists, poets, politicians, engineers-all sought to pronounce
judgement on the status of this first tract in Mannarkkad, Palakkad ,
Kerala, which forms an integral part of the Nilagiri ecosystem. As they
held forth with fervor, presenting facts, fiction and analysis, trading
incentives and mutual allegations, lay folk stood by, bewildered.
The silent valley was a dense tableland of tropical evergreen forest, approximately 90 square K.M in area and hemmed in on all sides by the steep hills of the Nilgiri ranges. The Kunthipuzha traversed it from north to south, descending 1500 meters in the process. If ralend here almost over 3000 mm of annual rainfall, with nearly 900 mm in July alone when the south-west monsoon was at its peak. Temperatures were rarely abouve the lower 20s and 6 or 7 C in the winter months was quite common. The sheer inaccessibility of the valley preserved it from human incursion for over half a century after the British rulers of Malabar notified it as a reserve forest in 1914. The suitability of the valley for a hydel project was one of the worst kept secrets of British India-but survey parties penetrated the jungle only in the 1950s. Finally 1973, the planning commission approved as 240MW Silent Valley Hydro Electric Project, with an estimated outlay of RS. 25 crores.
More....Read about this Issue in this Book:Environmental Controversies By Shyam Kishor Agarwal, P. S. Dubey
The silent valley was a dense tableland of tropical evergreen forest, approximately 90 square K.M in area and hemmed in on all sides by the steep hills of the Nilgiri ranges. The Kunthipuzha traversed it from north to south, descending 1500 meters in the process. If ralend here almost over 3000 mm of annual rainfall, with nearly 900 mm in July alone when the south-west monsoon was at its peak. Temperatures were rarely abouve the lower 20s and 6 or 7 C in the winter months was quite common. The sheer inaccessibility of the valley preserved it from human incursion for over half a century after the British rulers of Malabar notified it as a reserve forest in 1914. The suitability of the valley for a hydel project was one of the worst kept secrets of British India-but survey parties penetrated the jungle only in the 1950s. Finally 1973, the planning commission approved as 240MW Silent Valley Hydro Electric Project, with an estimated outlay of RS. 25 crores.
More....Read about this Issue in this Book:Environmental Controversies By Shyam Kishor Agarwal, P. S. Dubey
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