EnvironmentOpinion PiecePolicy Matters

SHARAVATHI PSP PROJECT INSIDE LTM SANCTUARY – A DISASTER IN MAKING

SHANKAR SHARMA @ SAGARA:

With deep shock and disappointment, I register my serious concerns on behalf of the environmentalists on the highly irrational and unsubstantiated decision of the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife (SBWL) to accord the approval for a high impact pumped storage project (PSP) in the Sharavathi Valley LTM (Lion Tailed Macaque) Sanctuary.

Till date, the detailed project report (DPR) has not been shared even with the Karnataka Forest Department, and further, no transmission plan for connecting the proposed project to the grid is even prepared.  There is also a mention that the forest minister was disturbed by the kind of impact the project will have on the rich biodiversity in the sanctuary, including a serious threat to the LTMs, which are endangered and endemic to the region; but the approval was still given in a hurried manner. 

SO-CALLED CONDITIONAL APPROVAL

The so-called conditions laid by the Karnataka SBWL for approval appear very trivial, and will not effectively minimize/eliminate the massive damage to the biodiversity that is awaiting the Sharavathi Valley LTM Sanctuary. 

It is a matter of serious concern to the people of the state, that despite multiple opposition, the Karnataka SBWL has deemed it urgent to endorse the project proposal without undertaking the due diligence, or even studying various aspects of the DPR; or even without waiting for the DPR from the project proponent. In fact, such a hurried decision to accord approval for a high cost and high impact project proposal, may indicate massive political pressure and other extraneous issues. 

VARIOUS CREDIBLE ALTERNATIVES

This project proponent has intentionally omitted to consider various other credible alternatives available to the state, such as Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), to address the peak demand issues, and has demonstrated a poor understanding of the true relevance of the costs & benefits analysis (CBA), by consciously avoiding to take into account the project capital costs, operating costs, including the energy cost to pump water to the higher reservoir, social costs etc. in the CBA. 

And the additional tragedy is that any PSP will consume about 25 percent more energy in pumping water to the higher reservoir than it can generate from the same amount of water. Our politicians here are projecting to the public that this is a power generation project, intentionally hiding the fact that the BESS is a mature, techno-economically attractive option, and that the same is being used widely across the world.  

Further, the project proponent’s CBA, as submitted to the MoEF & CC, indicates that it was a sort of cruel joke on the biodiversity of the sanctuary and the combined wisdom of the people of the state, wherein the benefits to cost ratio from the project is shown as 2,643. This conclusion is laughable to say the least, and may raise serious questions about the techno-economic competence behind this DPR.

 

BLATANT FALSIFICATION

In reality, this benefit to cost ratio can be seen as less than 1, if we objectively include the project capital cost, the energy cost to pump water to the higher reservoir, social costs etc. It is deplorable that the Karnataka SBWL has refused to consider this blatant falsification of the fact, by the project proponent.

Without even acknowledging such serious concerns of the public, and without even a public notification of the satisfactory clarification of various associated concerns of the public, it can be seen as a travesty of justice to the flora, fauna and general environment of the state, for the Karnataka SBWL to give green signal to such a high impact project in an ecologically sensitive area. 

DISREGARDING EXPERT OPINION

It is even more deplorable that no opportunity was given to the environmentalists, and power sector professionals to present their valid arguments against the project proposal, and to offer suitable recommendations/ alternatives to this disastrous project proposal, despite repeated representations. 

In such a scenario, it is understandable if many sections of our state feel completely let down by the associated policies and practices of the forest and energy departments. May I urge the state Karnataka SBWL, even at this stage, to diligently review the very need for this project proposal, the realistic costs and benefits to the state from this project, and carefully consider credible alternatives for the same? 

MORE PSPs IN THE OFFING

The larger concerns associated with every single power project proposed in Karnataka (such as similar PSPs) within other wildlife sanctuaries; the Mekedatu hydel power project, various power transmission lines through forests in Western Ghats are all similar to that proposal for a PSP within the Sharavathi Valley LTM Wildlife Sanctuary.  

It is frightening to note that the concerned officials in the state energy department may be continuing to propose such eco-destructive projects, even in 2025 in the backdrop of Climate Change threats, and without adequate diligence or consultations with the domain experts and civil society groups. There are highly attractive alternative options to meet the growing demand for electricity in the state.

TWO PSPs IN WESTERN GHATS

Environmentalists in Karnataka are struggling to drive some rational and responsible approach into the minds of the authorities, who seem to be obsessed with the proposal to build two PSPs, in the heart of Western Ghats; one across river Sharavathi and the other across river Varahi; and both in Wildlife Sanctuaries – Sharavathi and Someshwara.

Environmentalists may like to call such a tacit endorsement of the project proposal by Karnataka Forest Department as a sort of crime against the environment and ecology, at a time when the forest and tree cover in the state is not even 20 percent of the total land area in the state, and as against the national forest policy target of 33 percent of the land area. 

SECOND DRIEST AREA IN INDIA

For our state, which is seen as the second driest state in the Union as far as fresh water availability is concerned, and which has about 53% of its land area as officially acknowledged as drought prone, such wanton destruction of thick original forest cover cannot be seen as anything but a crime against the long-term interest of our own people, even if we do not care for the global warming implications.

Section 29 of the Wildlife Protection Act clearly prohibits any kind of destruction of wildlife including, its habitat inside a wildlife sanctuary, unless the destruction is unambiguously for the betterment of wildlife and its habitat.

It is deplorable that despite multiple and detailed representations in this regard to Karnataka SBWL, and the National Wildlife Board, no clarifications have been provided or objections adhered to. They seem to have forgotten that LTMs are critically endangered primates found only in the Western Ghats.

ECOLOGICAL DISASTER

The recent statement by the energy minister can be seen as an understatement of the year.  Has any govt. or any minister ever stated that a project being proposed will harm the environment?  How much forest loss is deemed as damaging the environment? 

It should be noted that no one in the govt. is even referring to the proposed site of the 2,000 MW PSP proposal as within the LTM sanctuary, wherein no human activity should be undertaken as per Wildlife Protection Act. 

Such a demand for the diversion of natural and thick forest lands is not restricted for this project alone, but is also being proposed for one more PSP across river Varahi within Someshwara Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Mekedatu hydel project in Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

20 DISASTROUS PROJECTS IN WESTERN GHATS

The consequent devastation of our forest wealth especially in the Western Ghats and the serious ecological consequences of the same, because of these projects in the context of the ever-escalating threats of climate change can be hardly imagined.

Further, there are also more than 20 such ill-conceived linear projects which are being implemented/planned in the thick forest of the Western Ghats of Karnataka, thereby, threatening more than 20 lakh mature trees and the associated biodiversity and Wildlife.

As a practicing power sector professional and being an electrical engineer, I can confidently state that this project proposal & most of such PSPs, are not essential to our country, and that there are better and low-cost options available to our country to meet the stated objective of pumped storage projects.

(THE WRITER IS A POWER AND CLIMATE POLICY ANALYST)