Dr. Ranjit
Daniels Ph. D. Care Earth
Shrinivas, 5, 21st Street
Thilaiganga
Nagar
Chennai
600 061
Email: [email protected]
Evaluation of the Environment Impact Assessment conducted by Tata Energy
Research Institute, Bangalore for the Dandeli Mini-Hydel Project of M/s
Murdeshwar Power Corporation Ltd. across River Kali near Dandeli in Uttara
Kannada District, Karnataka
(Clarifications in parenthesis are by ESG)
I am
qualified only to comment on the ecological aspects having worked in the
Dandeli area during the late 1980's.
From a
perusal of the TERI EIA it is obvious that the person who has done the
flora/fauna is not a qualified biologist. Statements, such as, the forests here record "very less
species per unit area" (Sec IV - 19) is
absurd. Judging by the species
(listed in the TERI EIA study), the forest is clearly a mosaic of deciduous and
evergreen forests. Such forests are the richest in
biodiversity in Uttara Kannada.
Forest working plans published in 1993 (and used as basis of the TERI
EIA study) might have been prepared years ago and hence with outdated
information on plants and animals. To
base species list on this is unwise.
Names of
species are erroneous, sometimes outdated and even non-existent in
reality. Plant names are full of spelling and classification errors. List of fishes of River Kali is dubious.
Sole (Cynoglossus lingua Ham.) is a marine estuarine species and it can
hardly exist in the proposed site. There are no lung fishes in India! (as claimed to exist in Sec IV - 34 of TERI EIA).
Crocodiles
in Kali River? Where exactly? This is news! Source has not been provided for Bird List
Karwar-Haliyal area even when there are specific lists for Dandeli prepared
by a student of Univ. of Karnataka in Dharwar, (perhaps) in 1989. There are not more than 150 species of birds
in the area (in contrast to the TERI EIA claims that 233 bird species are found
in the Dandeli Dam Study Area) and the (bird) list (in the TERI report) is
copied without acknowledgement.. Gallus gallus: Red Jungle Fowl, is not
known from the State of Karnataka (as claimed to exist in Dandeli vide Table
4.14; Sec. IV - 35 of the TERI EIA).
New records of species (as claimed to have been the result of the TERI
EIA study), indicated with *, are well known in the district even 100 years
ago! Further, there cannot be many of
these species in the study area. Such compilations don't help.
Too few
butterflies. Many common butterfly
species missed out.
There are no 'herds' of elephants, in Dandeli (as claimed in the TERI
EIA).
10-12 years ago there was one herd with less than 20 individuals
around Haliyal. And, there are no
foxes! Snake list consists of only the
most common species (while the area has) many more. For eg. Even the more commonly occurring Pit Vipers are not
listed?
Amphibian data is spurious. Ansonia ornata, Bufo
microtympanum are
not known from the district. (as claimed to exist in Dandeli in Table 4.17, Sec
IV - 43 of the TERI EIA)
In general, the ecological data
presented is secondary and spurious.
And thus, recommendations based on these can't be taken seriously.
R. J.
Ranjit Daniels
29 November
2000