Pathrakadavu will affect Silent Valley

The Kerala Nadi Samrakshana Samithi and the Association for Environment Protection have urged the Government to withdraw from the Pathrakadavu hydroelectric project. The samithi representatives said here on Tuesday that the project would adversely affect the biodiversity of the Silent Valley National Park.

 

C.M.Joy,general secretary of the samithi, said the project would have an impact on the long-term viability of the existing park. He said the distance between the boundary of the Silent Valley and the dam was less than 50 meters. S.Sitaraman, secretary of the Association for Environment Protection said the proposed dam area was well within the ecological boundary of the Silent Valley. Pathrakadavu was an important nesting habitat. The project would affect the sensitive ecosystem of the area, he said.

 

Environmentalists said the area proposed for the dam site was within the already proposed buffer area of the Park and adjoining the core of Silent Valley. They said the national park was set up to protect the unique ecology and biodiversity of the Silent Valley Reserve Forest. Attempts to set up a dam would adversely affect the ecology, they said.

 

(The Hindu, 11^th   May 2007)