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Renewed debate over hydel projects in Kerala

Mony K. Mathew

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Aug. 15

THE recent brief ruckus over the long-forgotten Silent Valley project in Kerala has, in a way, helped turn the focus once again on the desirability, or otherwise, of more hydel projects in the State. More importantly, it has raked up the age-old debate o ver the extent of the environmental cost that could be safely factored into the economics of development.

The statement by the State Electricity Minister on the revival of Silent Valley in the Assembly a few weeks ago had drawn immediate flak from the hardy greens who were not apparently enthused by his talk of a `sub-surface dam' technology that would minim ise the impact on the surrounding environment. The State Government has since backtracked on the proposal.

A section of the observers, however, feel that the Minister's statement meant not so much for its seriousness of intent as to drive home the point of the high cost of power in the State with an increasing share of thermal component in the supply mix. It could well be the case considering that the Government was desperately looking for a fire-exit to escape from the possible public wrath against the imminent hike in power tariff.

The Government also might have been aware of the fact that it was next to impossible to get the go-ahead from the Centre for the proposal which in its earlier version was a rallying point for environmentalists the world over.

It was in the late seventies that the proposal for a 240-MW hydel project in the Silent Valley, in Palakkad district, was first mooted by the then State Government. It almost immediately whipped up widespread protest as it entailed the submergence of 830 hectares of land, including 500 hectares of prime tropical evergreen forest.

The `Save Silent Valley' campaign was spearheaded by a slew of non-governmental conservation organisations such as the Bombay Natural History Society, Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad and the Indian Science Congress. The proposal also came under fire from a task force of the National Committee on Environmental Planning and Coordination.

The issue gained global proportions with the involvement of international organisations such as IUCN and WWF. The project was finally abandoned in 1983 at the instance of the then Prime Minister, Ms Indira Gandhi, and the area was subsequently declared a s a national park.

The Silent Valley issue had cast its shadow over a host of other proposals, one of the notable among them being the Pooyamkutty project which the State Government had put before the Centre in lieu of the abandoned project. The 750-MW proposal, which rema ined on paper awaiting the Centre's nod all these years, has now been pushed back into the reckoning, albeit in a fresh blueprint.

Another hydel project that has come to the fore in the aftermath of the renewed row over Silent Valley is Kuriarkutty-Karappara scheme. The State Government has put up the proposal with the Centre, along with that of Pooyamkutty, and the indications are this will be cleared shortly.

However, the Pooyamkutty project, even in its whittled down version, appears to be heading for the kind of controversy that was touched off by Silent Valley almost two decades ago. It is said that the project will submerge the last couple of low-elevatio n forested valleys still remaining in the State.

Though endowed with abundant sources for hydel projects, Kerala took its first tentative step into thermal generation in the middle of the last decade with the commissioning of Brahmapuram diesel plant of the State Electricity Board. Later, a similar pla nt was set up in Kozhikode.

With the Kayamkulam project of National Thermal Power Corporation and another one of BSES at Kochi also getting hooked to the State grid, its thermal content has gone up substantially bringing the tariff structure under growing pressure. And in a State w hich was almost entirely dependent on the low-cost hydel power till a few years ago, the question of a tariff hike is a politically uncomfortable proposition for any Government.

Apart from the major projects, the previous LDF Government had identified a series of mini and micro hydel projects with a combined generating capacity of 300 MW. Even if all these proposals materialise, the State would still need to go in for further ca pacity additions in the coming years considering that its industrial sector continues to remain in a nascent stage and will require many times more than what it consumes today if the present Government's grandiose plans for the sector go even half-way th rough.

In the circumstances, the State Government cannot simply wish away thermal power in its scheme of things for the future, say the observers. The LNG terminal in Kochi, slated to go on stream some time in 2004, may provide some elbow space for the Governme nt to manoeuvre the cost to keep it within affordable limits. But the environmental debate will go on for ever.