Monday, December 1, 2025

Plan to Bloodbath Hundreds of thousands of Bushes Give Goosebumps


 India ought to  drop the thought  of Ken Betwa  Linking Challenge (KBLP) which would require felling of  2 to 4  million timber within the emerald forests of Panna nationwide park. Consider the  lack of this staggering  variety of timber  within the backdrop of the  unprecedented summers that the nation  skilled within the yr 2024. Many components of Bundelkhand the place Panna  is located recorded 49 levels Celsius whereas the mercury  soared to 52.9 levels C in Delhi, later corrected by the federal government to 50 levels C (49.9). For a second overlook  the lack of tiger habitat  within the park, assume over our personal survival. Referring to the  particular morphological significance and distinctive biodiversity of Panna nationwide park, the central empowered committee of the Supreme Court docket  on the KBLP  noticed ,” implementing this challenge would outcome within the full breakdown of the evolutionary processes of hundreds of thousands of years.” It warned of the widespread ecological devastation.River Ken  is lifeline of  the tiger reserve and the federal government needs to hyperlink it with river Betwa to  remedy water disaster of Bundelkhand. Panna Tiger Reserve which as soon as misplaced all its tigers in 2009, is now a stronghold of the magnificent feline with greater than 60  tigers roaming within the park . After a profitable tiger reintroduction, the park has efficiently maintained its tiger inhabitants.

Be taught Classes From Summer season 2024

Proposed Dhaudhan dam project

A lot has been written on the KBLP .The proposed Daudhan dam will submerge an space of round 9,000 hectares of land, of which 5,803 hectares lies throughout the tiger reserve . A complete of 6,017 hectares of forest land must be cleared, of which 4,141 hectares are throughout the delicate core of the reserve. To offer an concept of the enormity of the tree loss,   the deforestation  goes to happen within the jungle, nearly  equal to eight,427 soccer fields. In line with the report of a sub-committee of the Forest Advisory Committee, at the very least 23 lakh (2.3 million) timber will must be minimize down ( many consultants quote the determine to 46 lakh) for the  challenge implementation ,that is 1000 occasions extra variety of timber that had been uprooted in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony in 2019 to construct automotive sheds for the Mumbai Metro. Can we afford such an enormous loss within the occasions of worldwide warming?  

Additionally learn: Why  India Ought to Rethink Over Coal Mining in Hasdeo Arand Forest 

We should always study a lesson from the summer season of 2024 .It’s only a starting. And as if KBLP  was not sufficient. There  is a proposed elevated hall challenge to assemble a  21 km highway contained in the nationwide park which might require felling of increasingly more timber.This highway patch of the NH31 additionally passes by way of the core space of the tiger reserve. The park director  Anjana Tirkey stated that the challenge is in a really preliminary stage  and a permission for less than a survey  was given.  However the very considered highway building  is frightening. In addition to KBLP,  32 lakh timber are estimated to be minimize in Hansdeo Aranya  in Chattisgarh for coal mining.Fore document, after Brazil, the nation with the second highest ranges of deforestation is India which has misplaced 668,400 hectares of forestry  between 2015 to 2020, a report says

Extra Tasks in The Offing Means Extra Tree Felling 

Tree felling

From 2020 to 2022, the ministry of Atmosphere, Forest and Local weather Change (MoEFCC) has given clearances to round 87 growth tasks, with three falling in protected areas. Round 2.3 million timber must be eliminated to help these tasks, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, minister of state for MoEFCC, advised the Rajya Sabha on  February 2, 2023. As the federal government goes forward with the  implementation of the KBLP as  a part of stage-I clearance, a Panorama Administration Plan (LMP) of total Panna tiger reserve , together with Ken Gharial Sanctuary, is being ready by Nationwide Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which would supply choices for habitat consolidation and conservation of Panna panorama,  minister of State for Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu  stated in a written  reply in Rajya Sabha on March 14, 2022 . 

Additionally learn: Ken-Betwa Challenge:Dam of Doom for Panna Tiger Reserve 

 The proposed Panna panorama has been recognized by protecting PTR within the centre and connecting all of the adjoining forest divisions in addition to Nauradehi (MP), Rani Durgawati (MP) and Ranipur (UP) wildlife sanctuaries. The LMP contains 11 districts (3 in UP and eight in MP) and a complete space of round 47,620 sq. km. Complete forest space within the panorama is 12,125 sq. km. The stakeholders in addition to the forest managers and consultants have been consulted at each stage of preparation of LMP.The challenge is thus aimed toward not solely offering water safety within the Bundelkhand area but additionally making certain the general conservation of the area, particularly for the panorama dependent species resembling tiger, vultures and gharials., he added.

Additionally learn: India’s Forest Cowl : Up, Down Or Cowl- Up 

The LMP got here into the image, stated a retired director of the tiger reserve, after the CEC  left an “exit plan” for the federal government. The CEC report could have been lauded by unbiased  environmentalists, but it surely left  an “opening”  within the type of LMP.  ” Neither  LMP nor compensatory afforestation of any scale  can make-up for the huge bloodbath of timber”, he stated.  Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the  South Asian Community on Dams Rivers and Individuals (SANDRP )  stated, ” Ken Betwa River hyperlink Challenge nonetheless doesn’t have all of the statutory clearances. Its Stage 2 Forest Clearance is on situations that might change the fundamental parameters of the challenge, requiring recent environmental influence evaluation (EIA) , environmental clearance (EC) and different clearances. Validity of its wildlife clearance has been questioned by the CEC and is but to be thought-about by the Supreme Court docket.”  He stated that   “Its EC stays challenged earlier than the NGT. Ought to a challenge   like this -requiring felling of 46 lakh trees- go forward with out even credible assessments or public session course of that too in a local weather change period ?  Ought to it’s thought-about when higher, more economical and far much less harmful choices can be found?, he opined.

” Keep away from Such Tasks” 

Tree felling

Usually, a pure forest evolves over a interval of 100 years, and we can’t recreate a pure forest , Giant scale tree felling impacts the water cycle, it will additionally result in a rise in carbon dioxide, thereby growing world warming. So by  chopping 4 million timber, we,  in truth,  would  help , expedite or contributing additional to the worldwide warming.  The Standing Committee to look into the influence of the proposed KBLP had made a scathing comment concerning the challenge: “No developmental challenge ought to destroy the ecology of [a] remnant [of a] fragile ecosystem and an essential tiger habitat within the nation. In a super scenario, it will be finest to keep away from such tasks in such wilderness areas with protected space standing and particularly when it runs the danger of offering justification or unhealthy priority for extra such developmental challenge throughout the protected areas that won’t be within the curiosity of wildlife and the general well-being of the society in the long run.” In April 2022, the Madras Excessive Court docket declared nature as a dwelling being with all rights and duties of a dwelling being.Allow us to  atleast respect the court docket’s verdict. 

By : Deshdeep Saxena

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